Hi.

I'm Mark Greer, executive director of the Akron Bicentennial.

And in partnership with PBS Western Reserve, we're pleased to present a forgotten history Forum series.

The Forgotten History forums will explore aspects of Akron's history that, while critical to our development, are not often discussed.

Throughout this yearlong series will highlight seminal points in our history, some undiscovered and others which still challenge us today.

Topics will include women trailblazers in Akron's history, the development of the New Akron History Anthology published by the University of Akron Press, Akron's Native American History, The History of Deaf Rubber Workers, The Impact of Urban Renewal, particularly on Akron's Black community, and the history of the African American Church, among others.

On behalf of the Akron Bicentennial, we hope you enjoy our Forgotten History Forum series.

Well, good evening, everyone, and thank you for joining us for our latest Forgotten History Forum.

And this year long series, which is presented in sponsorship with, First Energy Foundation and of course, with our exclusive media partners at PBS Western Reserve.

We say this every forum, but it is truly essential.

Please support our local public broadcasting.

And when you came in, you probably saw information out there on the table on how you can support PBS Western Reserve, so we strongly encourage you to continually do so.

We're really excited about tonight's forum, which is on the life and the research and the legacy of Dr.

Shirla R. McClain.

And we are here in the Shirla McClain Gallery of Akron's Black history and Culture.

And I want to especially acknowledge the University of Akron's Dr.

Sheldon Wrice, who is the special assistant to the provost for hosting us here in this special space and for making tonight's forum here at the University of Akron campus possible.

Thank you to Doctor Wrice.

And also, you probably had a time to browse around and see this really amazing exhibit that we have.

This is the first time that it has been open to the public, and this exhibit is entitled, “Our Contribution to the City: Black Life in Akron in the 1930s and 40s, as seen through the lens of Horace and Evelyn Stewart.” So Horace and Evelyn Stewart had and ran a highly successful photography studio, which was on Howard Street.

And we are so thankful to the University of Akron archives and Vic Fleischer, who has digitized already over 20,000 photos from the Horace and Evelyn Stewart collection.

And, while they currently have about 20,000, there's going to be a total of 46,000, so more are coming.

It's an amazing project, and we're really, really grateful to Vic Fleischer and his team again at the University Archives for making this collection accessible to the public.

It's so important for us because we know that in the Forgotten History Forum series, we want to highlight history that is often which goes unseen as the first history that typically is forgotten.

And now we have this amazing exhibit here in the Doctor Shirla McCLain Gallery and so we're again, so thankful to both Dr.

Wrice and Vic Fleischer for making this possible.

But now we're going to get into tonight's forum, and I'm very happy to introduce our featured speaker, who we'll be having really just a conversation about Dr.

Shirla McClain, her research, and of course, we know that she wrote a groundbreaking dissertation which was on the history of blacks in Akron, taking us all the way up to 1975.

Of course, that was Akron's sesquicentennial and now in our bicentennial year, this is so important to highlight this.

And so I want to first introduce, Mr.

Gabriel Scott.

I'll start off by saying that Gabriel and I went to middle school together.

I won't say how long ago that was, but it was not yesterday, that's for sure.

And so a few things about Gabriel Scott.

He is a product of the Akron Public Schools, and he received his bachelor's from the Art Institute of Pittsburgh.

Gabe worked as a substitute teacher for the Akron Public Schools and a youth specialist for the Boys and Girls Club of the Western Reserve.

He is a local historian.

And on your way in, you probably saw the information about his latest book, which is 100, facts, 100 Unsung Black History Facts, which was published in 2023.

You can find more about Gabriel Scott on his website at www.GabrielScott.net.

And he plans, of course, to publish many more books in the future.

He's a really a brilliant guy and we're really happy to have him here.

So I want to kind of start with with our conversation.

Gabriel, I think we spoke first about this, I don't know, maybe over a year now.

And we were looking at topics to focus upon, - Correct.

and you immediately went to Doctor Shirla McClain.

I really wanted to kind of ask you, what was it about her life, her research that really inspired that choice?

- So just my love for research and history, after I read her whole dissertation, I was mind blown over it.

I mean, over 400 pages of diligent work, dedicated research of blacks in Akron going all the way back to 1825 and then all the way up to 1975, 150 years of valuable history that I think is recommendable to everyone.

- So I think when we talk about Akron's black history, we often focus on those larger names from typically, you know, those about 100 years ago and since, but we don't often focus on the early contributions of black settlers here in Akron.

- Correct.

- If we start looking at her dissertation, she talks about them.

What are the contributions of those early black settlers in Akron going back to 1825?

- So I just start by saying in 1825, Akron was split up into two areas.

Its original name was actually called Cascade.

It was Cascade, Ohio.

And then about a year or two later, both sides of the city merged together, and Simon Perkins and Paul Williams called it Akron.

And they came up with the term Akron from the Greek word ἀκρόν, A-K-P-O-V, which means the top or the peak.

You know, the summit, high point, right?

Because it's the highest point in Summit County.

For those of you who are not aware, Akron, Ohio is the highest point in Summit County.

And so, around 1830, there are roughly about 5 or 6 blacks that were living in Akron in 1830.

Around 1836, it grew to about 20-25.

One of the first black couples in Akron were Edward and Sarah Smith in 1836.

Edward was a barber who actually moved from Columbus to Akron with his wife, Sarah, and they moved into a duplex on East Market Street.

And that's where he opened his barber shop.

You also had, you know, some of your more typical last names of blacks during that time.

Johnson family.

It was a Williams family.

It was a Jones family.

Obviously Edward and Sarah Smith.

Morrison family.

(unknown) family.

And some of them purchased property for as low as $500.

Most of the blacks weren't able to purchase property, but some of them, like the Smiths, were able to purchase property for as little as 500 or $1,000.

- So talk a little bit about, you know, the challenges that these early black settlers faced.

I mean, so you, of course, started with, I think our population started at five, right?

- Correct.

- But talk about, you mentioned that most blacks were not able to purchase property.

Talk about those types of challenges that especially Akron's early black settlers faced here.

- Yeah, so housing discrimination has been around for decades now.

Slavery was still going on in the southern states.

And a lot of free blacks who were fortunate enough to be set free, they ended up relocating or migrating to the north.

Columbus, Youngstown, Cincinnati, Akron.

But a lot of them faced some very hard hardships, hard times.

- You mentioned slavery.

One of those acts, The Fugitive Slave Act.

- Correct.

1850.

- Talk about how that act specifically affected Akron and the blacks that were here at that time?

- Yeah.

So I'm gonna just give one example.

So in 1854, there was a black man in Akron named James Worthington or Jim Worthington.

And according to Dr.

McClain's dissertation, she states that he was a subject of a slave catching.

So there were slave catchers that were looking for him in Akron.

And also, according to what she stated in her dissertation, Worthington's wife had betrayed a secret that he had.

I don't know what that secret was.

I don't know what the motive behind it was, but she had betrayed a secret of his.

It was slave catchers from, I want to say, Kentucky.

They came to Akron looking for him.

They found him, They grabbed him, and they walked into the train station.

And right at that moment, they were abolitionists from the Akron area who had summoned some townsmen, they all came together and right when they were getting ready to transport him on a train, they caught him just in time.

And he was able to be saved, but they were going to transport him and send him back into enslavement.

- You spoke about the intervention of the abolitionists here at the time, and definitely no more famous abolitionist with a tie here to Akron than John Brown.

- Correct.

- Shirla McClain talks a lot about John Brown in her research.

What really stands out as she was pointing that, pointing out John Brown in his work and then in relation to the black community here in Akron.

- Yeah.

So John Brown, as we all know, I'm sure everyone’s heard of John Brown, he's a household name.

When it comes to the slavery era, he was one of the more well known abolitionist during that time.

He spent about 6 to 8 years in Akron.

He actually came to Akron around 1842.

He spent about six years here, and he left around 1848.

He then went to New York, spent some time in New York, and then he did more traveling around the country and then came back to Akron.

A lot of people were unaware that John Brown had an assistant, a black assistant named James Madison Bell.

And with all the work that he was doing around Akron, Mr.

Bell helped him out a lot with that.

- I think one of the things about her work that really stands out is how there are so many figures in Akron's black history that it's not like they they were— It's not as though they were never there, but their stories are typically, they were unsung.

- Correct.

- They weren't highlighted.

Talk about some of the other really notable names that stood out to you, those who are not recognized as much in our history, but those that Shirla highlighted on and that really have made a tangible impact.

- So I’ll start with the Civil War veterans.

So there were roughly 8 to 9 black men that served in the Civil War.

You know, part of the 54th Massachusetts Regiment.

One particular person that I'm thinking of right now is Alvin Smith.

He's a Civil War veteran, and he lived to see the age of around 104 years old.

And he passed away in the 1940s.

And the Akron Beacon Journal did an article on him.

You had individuals like you had mentioned, the black churches.

Wesley Temple.

One of the first black churches, Mt.

Zion AME Church, Second Baptist Church.

Royal Jones was the first pastor at Second Baptist Church and he stayed the pastor for over 40 years.

You know, and I mean, back then, that was unheard of, it’s even unheard of now for someone to remain a pastor that long.

Moving into the 1900s, you had the Simpson brothers.

You have Ferdinand and Harold Simpson.

They were the first black physician and first black attorney in the Akron area.

This is around 1900 to 1904.

You had individuals like Hill Clark, he was Akron’s first black pharmacist.

You had Harold Dickinson, Akron's first black dentist.

You had Clarence Harris, Akron's first black milk truck driver.

In 1949, you had, you know, people like Herbert Bracken, first black employee of Akron Public Schools.

Mary Kate Moore.

Her picture was on the wall over there.

Akron's first black female employee of Akron Public Schools.

You had Esther Spruill.

She opened Akron's first black owned daycare.

You had people like J.C Wade open Akron's first black owned dance studio.

Right?

- I think, you know, and hearing you go through so many of these names that are probably not you know, the household names that we hear when we talk about black history in Akron.

I mean, obviously, we always hear about Sojourner Truth.

And of course, rightfully so.

But you're touching on so many of the names and the stories that doctor McClain highlighted.

Speaking of the Akron Public Schools, I know that you have history as an educator.

Doctor Shirla McCLain, taught in the Akron Public schools for 20 years and then went on, of course, to teach at both Kent State and Walsh University.

But education was so central to her life and to her mission.

When we look at her work and we look at education and even looking at, you know, education in our current state, what are the areas that more of our youth now need to know about black history and Akron and why is the study of it so important?

- Well, first of all, like I stated earlier, Dr.

McClain’s dissertation, in my opinion, is like the premier piece of material or literature when it comes to black history in Akron.

I don't think there's anything out there that's better than her work.

I feel personally that black history or some type of black studies should be taught in the Akron Public School system.

I know there is a black studies program at the University of Akron now.

I mean, that's the only way our youth are going to really, I think intellectually grow is if they know their history.

You know, like they say, you have to know where you come from in order to know where you're going in life.

- Absolutely.

- You know?

I think it's important to know your history.

Because if not, we're definitely bound to repeat it.

- I mean, I'll also say, too, I think also studying our history not just in Black History Month, right?

And knowing that if we're looking at Akron history and blacks were an integral part of Akron history.

So our history should be studied along with the entirety of Akron's history.

I think that one of the things that we wanted to mention when we look at this 1900 to 1940s era.

There were some notable names that came here to Akron.

From Marcus Garvey, from a number of others.

It's like, who were some of the notable African Americans who came here to Akron and really left their mark.

- So around 1904, Booker T. Washington came to Akron for a civil rights convention and he wanted to book a room at the Buchtel Hotel.

And as prominent and as successful and as well known as he was, Booker T. Washington was turned away at the Buchtel Hotel.

So he had to turn around and leave.

They wouldn't accommodate him.

So he ended up staying at the Empire Hotel downtown Akron.

This was around 1904.

Marcus Garvey, the black nationalists.

This was many years prior to Elijah Muhammad, and before Malcolm X came onto the scene.

But Marcus Garvey had an organization called the United Negro Improvement Association, very well known, and he opened a branch in Akron in the 1920s.

You had WEB Dubois, one of the most prominent black educators during that time.

He came to Akron and he spoke at the first Congregational Church, and he used Akron as an example.

And during his speech, I know I'm not— I'm not gonna say this verbatim, but during his speech, he basically said, if we can solve the race issue in Akron, we can solve the race issue around the country.

If we can solve the race issue around the country, we can solve the race issue around the world.

He used Akron as a base, as an example.

So that just goes to show how racist Akron was.

- Speaking of using Akron as an example.

I mean, we know that in the early 1900s, and really reaching its peak in the 1920s, that Akron was a real stronghold of the, of the Klan.

- Correct.

- Dr.

McClain talks about the strength and the influence of the Ku Klux Klan in Akron.

Can you expand a little bit on that?

- Yes.

So during the 1920s, Akron, Ohio, had the largest KKK membership in the entire country.

With over 50,000 members that lived within the city and the outskirts of Akron.

So that says a lot.

Over half of the Akron Board of Education in 1920s were KKK members.

Which explains why the first employee, the first black employee of Akron Public Schools wasn’t hired until 1940.

And by then you start to see more integration within the Akron board and Akron Public Schools.

- Yeah, I think, you know, the influence of the Klan on the school board and you're talking about the impact there, but you know, there was also Mayor Rybolt at the time, who was also a member of the Klan.

So when we look at the challenges that blacks faced, I think some of my most interesting photos of that era and there are pictures that ran in the Akron Beacon Journal as late as 1965.

And we've got Klan marches in the street.

- Correct.

- One of my favorite ones was 1965.

There's pictures of the Klan delivering Christmas gifts.

So it was just ten years before Dr.

McClain wrote her groundbreaking work.

But, what do you think is the importance of Akronites now and future generations of Akronites knowing this history, but also making sure that we learn from these lessons in the past to really shape where we're headed.

- Yeah.

So, kind of piggybacking off of what I said a little bit earlier.

Dr.

McClain, she goes in to deep detail about every single era within history, Akron history going back to 1825.

And I think it's very important and imperative that our youth become educated and informed, and they learn as much as they can, as much as possible from individuals like myself or from you.

Educators within the school system, community leaders, politicians, anyone who has the intellect and the education and the intelligence, the knowledge that are able to teach and inform these youth they should be able to do that.

And I know as far as the recommendations that she stated at the end of her dissertation, I think it's also important that maybe we can try to attempt to revitalize some of the programs that were used back then, 75 years ago, 100 years ago, and bring them to the current and that would help us into the future.

- I'm really glad that you hit on this.

So at the end of her work, Dr.

McClain laid out about ten, really I'd say calls to action of things that she wanted to see happen.

One of them is actually the space that we're in now.

She talked about her dream that there would be an Akron Black History Center and the importance of us meeting and holding the forum in this space.

But you talked about one of them.

I think that was her eighth recommendation about reviving some of these past programs.

I think, you know, one of her biggest challenges was to... Blacks in our community to make sure that we did not allow our history to go untold.

- Right.

- Talk about some of the ways that we today can ensure that black history does not go untold, but that we are passing down these important aspects of our history and our development, not only to our youth, but making sure that that people know who these people were and why it's so important.

- I'll just start with some of the programs that I know she had mentioned, and then I even did my own personal research.

Some of the programs, like the Benevolent Preventive Order of the Elks, that was around 100 years ago, you know, the 1920s.

The initial organization was actually segregated.

It was a all white organization, and they did not allow blacks a part of it.

So, blacks organize their own chapter and it catered to predominantly, you know, black community of Akron.

You had Wesley Temple for many years, I mean, going back to the 1880s, have always held programs and activities to help cater to the black community as well.

As a matter of fact, when I was younger, when I was little, all my siblings and I, we all played instruments and every year Wesley Temple will hold an annual music concert over at the church.

But they hold other phenomenal programs as well, so that's another one.

Another activity that they've always had is the Akron Jazz Society, which is a club that consists of all black musicians, and they all get together and they have jazz sessions, jazz battles, and they just fellowship.

I will say that I think it's important and I don't have any control or say so with the Akron Board of Education, the mayor, Akron City Council or any of that.

But I think it's important that we incorporate some type of black history within the Akron public school system.

Because it's just not— I feel like it's just not being taught enough.

You know what I mean?

They cover Dr.

King, Rosa Parks, briefly, Frederick Douglass, maybe a little bit, Harriet Tubman here and there.

But there's way, way more, many more very prominent black figures within our history to shape it into where it's at now.

- Absolutely and, you know, that's actually one of the recurring themes that she hits on throughout her work is that, there has traditionally been a more peripheral view of African-American history and that we see and hear the same names over and over again, but we rarely delve beyond that.

So, when we're looking at education and speaking of a point that you brought up, you mentioned the jazz clubs and the society's.

One of the big things that that was really at the core of black culture here in Akron was the Howard Street District.

And, that was one of the main sites where urban renewal was implemented.

- Correct.

- And, of course, with the implementation of the inner belt.

But this was a thriving black hub of culture, of economic activity, and then all of a sudden it was gone.

Doctor McClain, you know, talks a lot about black churches and the black community at the time lost churches, lost schools.

Talk about the impact of that on black culture in Akron at the time, and how that has followed on even to where we are now.

- Right.

So... We've heard of the Harlem Renaissance that took place in Harlem, New York, in the 1920s.

So Akron had its own little Harlem area, which, like you mentioned, was on Howard Street in the surrounding neighborhoods.

They called it the Mecca or the Black Wall Street of Akron.

All up and down Howard Street, you had venues like cafes, you had barbershops, you had salons, you had jazz clubs, you had a couple restaurants.

You had the Matthews Hotel.

You had the Ritz Theater.

Now, a lot of people are not aware the Akron Innerbelt nightclub was a predominantly black theater back in the 1930s.

It was called the Ritz Theater because a lot of the other theaters in Akron were segregated.

Right?

They didn't allow blacks and if they did allow blacks, you had to sit in the balcony.

So, the Ritz Theater had, I mean, performers come in.

Some of your more well-known entertainers, Deloris, Jackie Wilson, B.B.

King, Ray Charles, Eartha Kitt, Peg Leg Bates, they all perform there.

The Matthews Hotel, right across the street.

You had people like Cab Calloway, Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington, Count Basie.

They all stayed there when they came into town to perform.

When the Akron Innerbelt and the whole urban renewal project started, all of that went away.

And it really was a systemic act of racism.

It was systemic act of gentrification, redlining, zoning, and it destroyed a lot of black families and their livelihood.

- I think when you are going through all of those figures who are right here in Akron.

It's the richness of the history and the contributions, the culture.

What do you wish that students now knew about the Akron then, specifically about our black community and prior to a lot of the urban renewal projects, what do students now not know about that rich period of Akron’s history?

They're unaware of the vibrancy.

I mean, the whole Howard Street and Little Harlem area was full of entertainment.

It was full of joy.

Blacks felt good about themselves.

I mean, that was, to be honest with you, that was our area of Akron, right?

That’s where we felt safe, that was our safe haven, our place of refuge, where we felt comfortable, where we didn't have to worry about segregation as much, or being oppressed.

And so they definitely need to learn more about that era.

But even the other eras before then, the Civil War veterans, the black churches, William Stevens, I didn't mention this.

William Stevens was a black man in Akron who owned land on the same premises that the Akron Public Library stands on right now.

And back then, I mean, 1850s, you know, blacks really didn't own much land back then.

So that was a huge deal for a black man to own land.

- Yeah.

Especially when you're talking about the area in which he owned.

You know, one of the the most kind of staggering stats and I think, really, really encapsulates the impact of urban renewal is that, how many buildings that were black owned before urban renewal specifically hit with the inner belt project in that area.

And today, 50 years later, 2025, we don't have one black owned building in downtown Akron.

No.

- No.

- So when we talk about the impact, it truly has been a generational impact.

- Correct.

I think one of the things that Dr.

McClain talks about is that the importance of how tapping into our history inspires us to really improve and to strive for more and how she was so adamant about the black community here really investing in the pride that we have had historically in our community and our culture, and then utilizing that to build upon the foundations of the past and really bring us into new heights.

Talk a little bit about, what are the areas in which we as a community now can build upon that came from a lot of those lessons in the past.

- Yes.

So, I think the main thing that comes to mind that we can definitely build on is how to fight discrimination.

There's still discrimination going on to this very day all across the country.

I believe also in Akron in some ways.

How to fight racism.

Racism is still very prevalent, it's still very eminent.

And unfortunately, I hate to say it, but it isn't going anywhere.

But we have to find ways to combat that and to fight that and to come up with solutions of just understanding each other, whether you're Black, White, Hispanic, Asian, whomever.

And to, you know, come up with solutions to solve the race problem.

When people like WEB Dubois and Oscar de Priest and many others came to Akron, Booker T. Washington and other prominent figures came to Akron over 100 years ago.

They came to Akron for a reason and those reasons were to come to a city and be outspoken and vocalize their opinions, their perspectives on race, race relations and how to solve it.

And, you know, 75 years later, 100 years later, we're still facing some of those similar issues and, you know, it's one thing to talk about it, but it's another thing to actually put it into action and act on that.

- I think that one of the areas that, really stood out to me reading her work is that she said the importance of teaching black history not just to African-Americans, but yes, you know, obviously, it was important for us to learn and know our own history.

But she also talked about the importance of non-blacks learning about black history in order to better understand one another and how learning black history could, in fact build a bridge.

- Correct.

- In order to bring cultures and communities closer in understanding.

What are the areas that we can do more with that now and using the study and the teaching of black history in order to really bridge those gaps?

- I think having town hall meetings, I think having, you know, bringing Akron residents together, you know, maybe through Akron City Council or community leaders and just coming together and having meetings and discussions.

I think, in my opinion, I think that's the only way for Akron as a city, as a whole, to come up with solutions and to have, you know, meaningful talks about race because race relations is still around in the city.

And so I think we can start with that and then branch off into, you know, the University of Akron and Akron Public Schools and also just having talks amongst family members and relatives and friends.

But I will say that Akron has come a long way.

Since 100 years ago.

- We're about to, soon we’ll open up for our Q&A here, but, before we transition into that next part of our forum, it's 2025.

Here we are 50 years later after the writing of this ground breaking work.

One of the things that she mentioned as wanting to see happen in the future, than in 1975, was that this research continue on.

Since 1975, there has not been a comprehensive, scholarly work on the history of the African American community here in Akron.

Talk about the work that needs to continue from that 1975 mark.

You know, I really feel like especially being in this space which has Dr.

McClain's name on it.

She's waiting to pass that baton on.

Tell us a little more about the scholarship and the research that needs, that still needs to happen now.

- Yeah.

So, like I mentioned earlier, if you have the Black Studies program at the University of Akron, that has been around, I want to say, since 1986.

I don't know how much work that they've done, but I think with the University of Akron being the main institution of higher learning within the city, I think they could possibly do more.

But personally, I feel that the Akron Board of Education with that being the focal point of, you know, Akron Public Schools and our youth.

And with that being the main focus of, I think her recommendations towards end of her dissertation.

The Akron Board of Education, I believe, in my opinion, can do a bit more.

- I think also, you know, when we talk about the impact of how, just person to person, I think one of the things that really has inspired me about you is that, you have written and published your own books about various figures and aspects of African American history and I look at Dr.

McClain as an inspiration to those like you and I, like anyone who's watching this now, who can themself start and researching their history, whether it's oral histories, whether it's, you know, there are so many, really goldmines of research that are still out there or just largely untapped.

And you writing your books on on these issues.

One of the things that she said is that she wanted to see a part of the education for African-American history, including to having students write about it.

So I think, when we look at the next generation, what's your closing message to the next Dr.

Shirla McClain, who may be sitting in a classroom now?

What would be your message to them?

- So I know everyone is not going to turn out to be another Dr.

McClain.

I mean, she was just on another level.

And her dissertation, for those who haven't read it yet, is on another level.

I mean, it’s just a phenomenal piece of literature and read.

But I will say, if a person feels in their heart that they are a writer, you know, don't be afraid to, you know, take out a notepad and start writing and typing.

That's what I did.

I mean, the 100 Unsung Black History Facts, that's my second book.

And I do plan on writing more, but, you know, it was something that was always on my heart, you know, my mind to do.

And, I didn't hesitate.

I didn't procrastinate.

I went on and wrote it, and it's on Barnes and Noble on Amazon now.

So I would just say and recommend to anyone, any youth that has a love for writing or has a love for literature, has a love for history or science or whatever it may be.

It doesn't necessarily have to be history, but just have a love for writing and putting your ideas on paper, you know, you shouldn't procrastinate and hesitate to go ahead and do that.

Because you could possibly, oh, you will move youth in a positive way.

And you could, very, very well educate and make our youth more intellectual and the ages goes from there because the youth, they are our future.

- I think it's a real call to action.

- For sure.

- That's what I love possibly most about our work is that she doesn't leave us in saying, this is the final story.

- Right.

Right.

But she's really inspiring that next generation of us to really take that and really taking that baton, but then running with it.

So I want to say, you know, huge thank you to you, sir.

- I appreciate it.

- Gabriel Scott for the research that you've done and as we get into our Q&A, we're looking forward to hearing from our audience here.

So I think we have some question cards that we're going to start with.

And we have actually a really thick stack of question cards soo we're really looking forward to this portion especially.

But let's start with, how valuable are... I said, okay, I'm going to make sure I read this right.

Okay.

How valuable are the Stewart photos and Dr.

McClain's work given the destruction of Howard Street and the historic black neighborhood that once existed where the Innerbelt is now?

- These photos are very, very valuable.

I mean, you know, without these photos and without, you know, the gallery and, you know, the showcase, a lot of our history would be lost, you know, in photographs.

Not only did you have people like Horace Stewart, but you also had Opie Evans.

You know, Opie Evans was a well known photographer who was the first black radio broadcaster in Akron.

And so, you know, they were like the Gordon Parks.

You know what I mean?

You know, Gordon Parks of Harlem.

So, these photos are very important, you know, to have and I'm glad that, you know, we have the Dr.

McClain Gallery, for sure.

We need something like this.

- You know, I often think about, you know, when I go over my mom's house, are like, I'm at a grandparents house.

When you open up an old photo album, it always engenders conversations and stories.

Some that you haven't heard of in the past.

And so I think, you know, we're again so grateful to the UA Archives, Vic Fleischer and Dr.

Wrice for really making this space so accessible but telling and featuring these stories.

- Correct.

-Hugely important.

Here's our next question.

Dr.

McClain chronicled how local churches and civic groups became centers for black leadership and activism in Akron.

How did those institutions influence the broader civil rights movement here and do you see parallels and community organizing today?

- So you had Wesley Temple, Mount Zion Second Baptist and Shiloh Baptist churches.

Those were four of the first black churches established in Akron prior to 1900, the turn of the century.

And then like I mentioned before, you had people like the Dubois and De Priest, Booker T. Washington and a few others who came to Akron, and they spoke at churches like Second Baptist Church.

And I was a member of Second Baptist Church for a number of years.

But Second Baptist Church was one church that held, I think, the most programs, the most rallies, the most speakers to come and speak.

The black church was Black people’s safe haven and refuge.

You know, in the midst of all the segregation and racism, oppression and bigotry, one thing that black people knew was a higher power.

And they knew to go to church, they knew how to pray, they knew how to intercede, and they knew that that was their only hope.

That was their only hope was to go to church and, and that was definitely how, you know, the church, you know, helped with the civil rights movement.

Dr.

King, you know, he grew up in the church.

And he became the main pastor at Dexter Avenue Baptist, as well as his father.

His father was a pastor as well.

So the church was a main focal point within the civil rights movement and even before then.

- Absolutely.

I mean, as a pastor’s son, I know a lot about spending a lot of time in church, so.

One of the questions is, Dr.

McClain's research highlights how black Akronites built community institutions, despite systemic barriers.

Which of those early efforts do you see as most influential in shaping Akron's black civic identity today?

- Say the first part again.

- So, Dr.

McClain's research highlights how black Akronites built community institutions despite systemic barriers.

So which of those early efforts do you see as most influential in shaping Akron's black civic identities now?

So in which one of those organizations?

- The main organization was a black church.

But, aside from from that one, the Benevolent Preventative Order of Elks that was a huge one.

They even provided scholarships for blacks in 1910s and 1920s.

You had people like William Bell.

He was a star football player, black football player at East High School in the 1920s and then he moved on to play for Ohio State.

But he receives a scholarship.

A lot of help from the Elks organization as well as his brother, Horace Bell.

So you had them, you also had the Akron Urban League that was established in the 1910s.

They've always been a great organization to assist and help with the cause.

The NAACP, obviously, we all know of them.

So I would say those were the main institutions or organizations.

- How important is Dr.

McClain's work to Akron history?

Her work is, and I don't want to sound like a, you know, a broken record, but her work is extremely important.

It's very imperative.

I think that every, all youth, they are part of the Akron Public Schools and even the outskirts of Akron.

And not even the outskirts of Akron, but let's just broaden it out even more all across the country should read her dissertation because it's just that powerful.

And you can learn so much from it.

She goes in a deep detail about every area of Akron and the black history of Akron from 1825 to 1975.

I mean, it's amazing.

We hope that you enjoyed this Forgotten History Forum and that you learned something new and exciting about Akron and the people who shaped it.

If you're interested in watching more from this series, or attending a Future Forum event, please visit Akron 200.org.

or pbswesternreserve.org Thanks for watching and celebrating Akron’s Bicentennial