The front of the African American Cultural Garden in Cleveland, Ohio.
The front lawn of the African American Cultural Garden where future monuments will be built. Credit: Camille Renner / Signal Cleveland

Since the 1960s, Cleveland’s Black community has strived for a garden space in the Cleveland Cultural Gardens in Rockefeller Park. Sixty-some years later, the first stage of an African American Garden has been completed, but the people behind the garden have bigger plans to honor the city’s strong Black history.

Obie Shelton, executive director of the African American Cultural Garden, shared with Signal Cleveland the importance of the garden’s history and how community members can support the mission.

Watch to learn more about the African American Cultural Garden

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Since the 1960’s, Cleveland’s Black community has fought for a shared space along Martin Luther King Dr. in Rockefeller Park. Sixty-some years later, the vision to honor the city’s strong Black history is coming to fruition — but $30 million is still needed to complete the African American Cultural Garden. #Cleveland #BlackHistory

♬ original sound – Signal Cleveland

Read the transcript

OBIE SHELTON:  “When you tell the story about the [African American Cultural Garden], I think you learn a lot about Black history.

The cultural gardens go back to the turn of the last century, when there was a lot of xenophobia and people with ethnic backgrounds were wanting to say, “No, I’m an American, but I am Italian,” or “I am Jewish,” or Hungarian, or whatever. So these gardens were a way of expressing that.

In the 1960s, of course, you had a greater awareness in the African American community because they were living in that area around Hough and Glenville, and they felt like they were not being included. The board that oversaw all of this said that — in their words — the Negro does not have a home country. 

As Black consciousness emerged, there became [a sentiment of] “We need to have it and have this African American [garden]. Which was about the same time the term African American was evolving. 

A number of things changed, and then it finally moved to the site where it is now on Martin Luther King and St. Clair. Then, Mayor Jackson, Frank Jackson, had appointed a committee to get a design together … so they got this design together and it finally came to fruition in 2016 that they built the first part of it. 

I’m trying every way I can to see if I can help to inspire a movement, especially in the Black community, because I think we need to take the lead because it’s our story.”

The African American Cultural Garden is always looking for community support to help fund the remaining phases of the project. You can participate in a silent auction this Saturday, Feb. 24, or make a donationon the website.

Camille was the inaugural audience manager at Signal Cleveland until October, 2024. Using simple social media posts, videos and newsletters, she worked to break complicated news stories into bite-sized chunks that invite Clevelanders to learn more from our reporters’ full stories.