The history of Black Cleveland can disappear in ways many don’t realize.
The Rev. Brian Cash, pastor of East Mount Zion Baptist Church, learned this in 2020. He was preparing to preside over the funerals of two parishioners, who had died in their nineties. In both cases, their families couldn’t answer straightforward questions about their lives.
What were their stories about being part of the Great Migration, which had brought them from the South to Cleveland? What had they told you about being a member of East Mount Zion in 1955, when it became the first Black church on Euclid Avenue? What had life been like for them as Black residents in Greater Cleveland in the 1950s and 1960s?
The treasures of our history – narratives and stories – are being buried and not being passed down. Stories are commerce. They speak to successes and triumphs, and even failures, that will provide generations to come something powerful and productive.
The Rev. Brian Cash, pastor of East Mount Zion Baptist Church, on the need to preserve Black history.
“One of the profound statements I’ve heard is that the richest ground in America is the cemetery,” Cash said. “The treasures of our history – narratives and stories – are being buried and not being passed down. Stories are commerce. They speak to successes and triumphs, and even failures, that will provide generations to come something powerful and productive.”
A Community Curation Summit seeks residents’ input
Cash became determined to make sure Cleveland’s Black history, whether made by everyday people or notables, wouldn’t go to the grave with them. He is part of the Cleveland Initiative, a multi-year partnership between the African American Archives Auxiliary at the Western Reserve Historical Society and the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C., focused on preserving Black history through digitization. This means that electronic images can be taken of anything that documents Cleveland’s Black past – including artifacts, photos, mementos and event programs – which can potentially be made available online.
A Community Curation Summit, designed to inform Greater Cleveland’s Black residents about the initiative and get their input in shaping it, will be the initiative’s first significant outreach effort. The summit will be held Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3:45 p.m. at East Mount Zion, 9990 Euclid Ave., Cleveland. The free event, which is being called a “conversation on collaboration,” will include live music, African dance, breakout sessions, breakfast and lunch. Tickets can be reserved at this link.
“This is kind of like the coming out party of the initiative,” Cash said.
It is fitting that the summit is being held at East Mount Zion. Cash’s experience in 2020 sparked the church to start the Greenstone Project, which refers to the appearance of the edifice. It includes the Greenstone Church Oral History Museum and a book of oral histories, “Stories Behind the Stone.” Both offer a glimpse of the church’s history, and also that of Black Cleveland.
Partnership will digitize Cleveland’s Black History
The initiative is aiming to capture the spectrum of Black life in Cleveland through the generations. During the next few years, NMAAHC’s Center for the Digitization and Curation of African American History will be “returning to the city periodically and working closely with Clevelanders to plan all project components,” said Regennia N. Williams, director of the Cleveland Initiative.
Digitization could be done through partnerships with area libraries, universities and other institutions, she said. The center’s truck could also roll into Cleveland to capture images that reflect the history of notables as well as everyday people. The timing for all of this is still being planned. The target is to have the full community curation project implemented in Greater Cleveland in 2026, Williams said.
The focus of the center’s Community Curation Program includes “creating a unique online platform” for the “preservation and sharing of community history and culture.” The center will pick up the cost of digitization for individuals as well as institutions. Some of the digitized items could be included in an NMAAHC platform.
The summit will cap a four-day stay in Cleveland by a team from the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC). Their itinerary includes viewing the papers of prominent Black Clevelanders and other historical collections at area institutions to get a sense of what could be prime candidates for digitization, Williams said.
Stops on the tour included the Icabod Flewellen collection at the East Cleveland Public Library. Flewellen founded the African American Museum in Cleveland. Williams said the initiative is focused on more than just digitizing the collections and works of the well-known.
Residents may want to start setting aside time to search their attics and basements or take a closer look at items they may encounter on a daily basis. Williams emphasizes that items from the lives of everyday people can hold clues to Cleveland’s Black past.
“Photographs,” she said. “Family Bibles – family genealogy and family history are often recorded in those pages. Other special documents. Love letters.”
She said love letters often reveal more than a couple’s affection for each other. Williams used the example of love letters between photographer Allen E. Cole, whose photos document Cleveland’s Black community in the first half of the 20th Century, and his wife. They show his passion for photography as well as how he came to open his studio.
Cleveland significant role in Black History nationally
Cleveland is one of several cities nationally chosen to participate in the Community Curation Program. Others include Nashville, New Orleans and Chicago, according to the program’s website.
Making the case that Cleveland be included was pretty easy, Williams said. She offered one example as to why.
Williams remembers attending a national meeting of the Association of African American Museums where Flewellen was being referred to as one of the founding fathers or the godfather of the Black museum movement. Flewellen, who died in 2001, founded the museum in 1953.
Flewellen’s story shows how Black History is for, and shaped by, the masses. The World War II veteran was a working class man who held jobs such as messenger and maintenance worker. He earned a college degree late in life. For decades, Flewellen amassed artifacts, photographs, periodicals, etc. documenting Black life in Cleveland and beyond.
A common man’s passion for Black history, which helped launch a movement, should offer Black residents of Greater Cleveland inspiration for participating in the initiative, Williams said. While the African American Archives Auxiliary is officially a party to the partnership, in some ways, it is really a stand in.
“The partnership is between the National Museum of African American History and Culture and Cleveland’s Black community,” she said.