Browse Interviews

Charles V. Williams is a longtime advocate for the Black Deaf community at both the local, state, and national levels. In this first of two interviews, he discusses losing his hearing as a child, growing up on Cleveland's East Side, early efforts to help Black Deaf newcomers to the city, working at Thompson Products and in the Cuyahoga County Engineer's Office, and campaigning for Carl Stokes for mayor.

Charlotte Morgan discusses growing up in Cleveland, where she grew up in the Hough neighborhood in the 1950s and early '60s and then lived in Glenville starting in 1964. She remembers the large homes and fruit trees in the Glenville area in her youth. Morgan discusses her father's music career, including the musicians' union, his reputation as the Quincy Jones of the area, his band, and Leo's Casino. She details her journalism career, including meeting Ella Fitzgerald, working for Cleveland …

This interview was proposed to gain further insight into the development of the African American Cultural Gardens in Cleveland, Ohio. Sabra Scott recounted how she became involved in the construction of the gardens as well as what the gardens symbolize.

Debra Martin is the wife of Leo Martin, who was interviewed earlier. She grew up in Glenville, then moved out of Glenville to East Cleveland at the age of 13. She went to Sacred Heart Catholic High School.

Sandra Walker is a retired judge who lived in Glenville from her childhood up until her undergraduate college years. She worked at her parents' restaurants during her youth, and later became a nurse and judge in her adulthood. She lives in Shaker Hts. now.

Bobette Smiley-Ousley, a resident of Glenville, describes growing up on Empire Ave.

Karl Johnson discusses his experience of being a Cleveland tour guide, lesser known stories of Cleveland's past, the railway system, urban renewal and public housing, and the issue of race and racism in Cleveland and America. His interview consists of personal stories, thoughts on public housing, and a discussion of the Hough and Glenville riots which leads to discussion of race.

Richard Baznik, University Historian at Case Western Reserve University, provides a detailed history of the development of the university and describes how the school responded to various national and local events and movements. He notes CWRU's relationship with other cultural and educational institutions in the area.

Bruce Melville discusses his involvement with various civil rights organizations in the early 1960s. He comments extensively also on the Hough/Glenville areas, particularly pertaining to school segregation.

Robert Brooks was born in Cleveland. He spent much of his life in the University Circle area. More specifically, Brooks lived on the corner of East 105th Street and Chester Avenue. He vividly describes and shares some of the experiences he had in that neighborhood. He learned French at the Demonstration School for Foreign Languages and subsequently taught French in the Cleveland Public Schools. Later in life he dedicated his time to volunteering with the program Project Learn, as well as with…

Kenneth H. Cooley, longtime Cleveland resident and native, discusses how Cleveland has changed over the years. He recalls being a kid and growing up in the Cedar Fairfax neighborhood. There he worked as grocery delivery boy where he got exposed to houses of prostitution, but he did not realize where he was until many years later. He continues by talking about the various clubs, bars, and other joints all around a neighborhood called Little Hollywood. Although, he never stepped foot in any of…

Peter Lawson Jones, a Cleveland native, is a member of the Board of Directors at Karamu House and also the Event Manager for the Karamu House Hall of Fame. Jones shares about how he became involved with Karamu House after working in the political sphere of Washington, D.C. He also discusses the significance of the institution Cleveland, and what he predicts for the future of the institution.

Rev. Stephen Rowan is the pastor of Bethany Baptist Church, located in the Glenville community. Rowan shares his memories growing up in Glenville, his path to taking over his father's position as pastor of Bethany Baptist Church, and church involvement within Glenville.

Theresa Bumpers is the current organ player at Antioch Baptist Church. She was born in Maryland and moved to Fairfax with her family. In her teenage years, she moved to Glenville, where she attended Glenville High School. Music became her hobby and later a career for her, where she would play with her family performing group at various churches around the Greater Cleveland area.

Morton L. Mandel discusses growing up in an immigrant family in Glenville, his life that led to success in business, and the origins of his philanthropic endeavors.

Stanley Miller was born and raised in the Glenville area. He spent 31 years with the Bell Telephone Company and retired as the Vice President of External Affairs. He later became the Cleveland NAACP executive director. Miller recounts his life and career, what it was like growing up in the Glenville area and the current condition of the neighborhood.

Howard Bush discusses his involvement as a member of Antioch Baptist Church. Bush also discusses his early life prior to moving to Cleveland, memories of living in the Glenville neighborhood.

Candace Woods-Evans was raised by her parents in Glenville, who also grew up in Glenville as well. Her parents were involved in their local street club, where meetings would sometimes be held at their home. As a child, Woods-Evans played tennis in the National Junior Tennis League, collected bottles for cash, and played an instrument in the band. She later went to Beaumont for her high school education, where she encountered discrimination along the way.

Betty Woods was born in Maryland, and moved to Cleveland at the age of 5. She grew up on Hampton Ave. in Glenville, and raised her family in Glenville as well. She worked for the city of Cleveland as a secretary for over 30 years. She enrolled her children in Catholic school rather than the local Glenville schools, but at the time of this interview, her children still live in Cleveland.

Peter and India Lee describe growing up in Glenville, the changes they have observed in the neighborhood, and also provide advice for what will benefit Glenville in the future.

Gayle Ivory describes life growing up in the Glenville neighborhood. She recalls the places that the teenagers would frequent, the shops, and the music scene of Cleveland.

Alan Dean Buchanan has been the Judge in Cleveland Heights since 2001. He took over for Lynn Toler who was elected in 1994. Judge Buchanan was born in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania. He lived with his mother and older brother and attended Northwestern High School in Darlington, Pennsylvania. After high school he went to Princeton University in New Jersey. He was one of about 13 blacks in a graduating class of about 700. While at Princeton he wrote his senior thesis on Carl Stokes campaign in…

Nicholas Mazzone talks about growing up in Cleveland's near west side and the clubs and tensions of the 1960s and 1970s.

Donna McIntyre Whyte is a Cleveland native, born in 1948, and grew up in the Glenville neighborhood, and then later on to the Mt. Pleasant area. Her father taught her and her sister many domestic and handy skills such as how to work on cars. She lived close to her grandparents, close enough to walk their alone as a child. Her grandparents have interesting stories, and she appreciated them and spent a lot of time with them. She does not recall any distinct instances of segregation, but does…

Doris Allen was originally born in Shelby, Alabama, and moved to Cleveland when she was two years old. She had a very established great uncle living in Cleveland, Robert Hardy, who was the first African American to own property east of East 55th Street in Cleveland. Her father was drafted into the Army when she was 9, and their family moved back to the South for one year while he served. She returned to Cleveland, moved into the Glenville neighborhood. She enjoyed her education in Glenville,…

Russell Baron grew up in Glenville before moving to Cleveland Heights. His father owned a haberdashery, a men's clothing store, where Baron worked during high school and college. Baron became a lawyer and worked in his father-in-law's practice before starting his own law practice. He was a member of the Cleveland Heights Board of Education and later, the Planning Commission. While in city governent, Baron worked to integrate the Cleveland Heights schools despite the protests of some residents.…

Les Jones relates how he obtained a home in the community he had always dreamed about. As a child growing up in the Glenville neighborhood, Jones liked to ride his bike to Cleveland Heights, describing it as "going on a vacation" because it was like a different world to him. He rode his bike past the Forest Hill area and thought the houses were enchanting. He drew a picture of the houses at school and received an "A" on the drawing. Once he settled down and his children grew up, he purchased a…

Dianne McIntyre was born at Mt. Sinai Hospital in Cleveland and grew up in Glenville early on and then moved to the Mt. Pleasant area with her mother and father on East 141st Street. Their family was the first black family on the block, although her father grew up around the corner. She recalls the onset of white flight and the neighborhood changing from white to black. She talks about how her parents made sure they had substitutes for things they could not do because of their race. She recalls…

Ora Sims was born on a cotton farm in Natchez, Mississippi, in 1917. Her parents owned the farm, which was rather unusual for African Americans in that area at the time. She recalls the hardships of farm life, including the boll weevil, but adds that in the Great Depression, she never felt poor because they grew all the food they needed. Sims recounts how her father fed passersby who were desperate for food and work during the Depression. She remembers the time before the Tennessee Valley…

Toppin was born in 1940 and grew up in the Cedar-Central and Glenville neighborhoods. His grandparents came to Cleveland from Georgia during the Great Migration, and his paternal grandfather started Majestic Cab Co. His father worked at the TRW plant in Euclid. He recalls the "Gold Coast" entertainment venues along East 105th Street, including in the Euclid-East 105 area, in the 1950s-70s and Motown artists who played the clubs. He describes the racial transition in the area as one from…

John Lunkins was born in Cleveland in 1964. His family was one of the only black families on his mostly Italian American street, East 113th off of Union. Growing up, Lunkins had a best friend who was of Italian descent. He shares his fondest memories of his childhood, playing baseball in the street with his friends, but then also recalls that when all the kids went to go play in the little league, he was unable to play because of his color. As Lunkins grew up he experienced some racially driven…

James L. Jones, aka "Buddy" Jones, was born in Union Springs, Alabama, in 1912, the son of a sharecropper. At age 7 the family moved to Matewan, West Virginia, for his father to work in the coalfields. Trouble soon developed when his father became involved in the UMWA's effort to organize coal miners in the region. Jones recalls being evicted from company housing and having to live in a tent. Company-hired "detectives" fired upon the tents at night in the buildup to the infamous Matewan Massacre…

Renee Harrison grew up in Glenville in the 1950s-60s. After graduating from Glenville High School, she attended Cleveland State University beginning in 1969. She began teaching in the Cleveland Heights-University Heights school district in 1974 and moved to Cleveland Heights the following year. She was a founding member of the Heights Alliance of Black School Educators and spends considerable time describing this stage of her career.

This interview is a followup to an earlier one with E. Christine Morris. She discusses her memories of the civil rights movement and tells stories about her husband seeing Malcolm X and her seeing tanks roll down Lincoln Boulevard in Cleveland Heights during the Glenville riots in 1968. She also discusses her church, New Community Bible Fellowship in Cleveland Heights, and her children's careers.

William Easterling, son of a coal deliverer and a domestic, grew up in Glenville. With the schools deteriorating and operating on half-day schedules by the 1960s, he and his wife sought a new home in the Cleveland Heights. They faced racial steering to the east of Lee Road but managed to purchase a house on Norfolk Road in Cleveland Heights at a sheriff's auction. He worked for Cleveland Transit System, the predecessor of RTA, and started a debt collection business. He discusses his work in the…

Jacqueline Gillon is a native Clevelander from the Glenville area. She was born in 1956 to parents who became actively involved in the community. Her family moved from the Glenville neighborhood to East Cleveland when she was 9. She attended Chambers Elementary, Kirk Junior High, and Shaw High school. She remembers the Kennedy and King assassinations, the death of Bruce Klunder, and the Hough and Glenville riots. From Shaw she went to Hiram College where she got involved in student activism. She…

Phil Hart was born in Jewish Glenville in the 1920s. His mother and father's families were both in the community and he talks about growing up in the Glenville area, going to School at Patrick Henry and Glenville High School. After high school he started college at Ohio State, then going to Western Reserve University, then to Oberlin under the V-12 program with the Navy. Upon returning from the Navy he returned to Western Reserve and met his friend Robert Madison. He was politically involved in…

Isaac Haggins was born in New Bern, North Carolina, in 1930. He grew up in Tennessee and Asbury Park, New Jersey. After graduating from West Virginia State College in 1949, Haggins moved to Cleveland to join his brother in the Glenville neighborhood in 1953. In 1956 he bought his first home near Rockefeller Park. After a stint selling shoes, he entered the real estate business, opening an office in Glenville and later in Union-Miles. In 1968 he was the first black real estate broker to open an…

Born in 1950, Gibson grew up first in the Glenville neighborhood and then in Kinsman, with most of that time at Garden Valley, an urban renewal housing development near Kinsman and East 79th Street. He tells great stories about the early days in Garden Valley in the late 1950s before the gullies were filled with dirt excavated along the downtown lakefront. He talks about various nightspots and music clubs all over the city, including Cougar Lounge, Teal Lounge, and several spots in the…

Larry Rivers, lifelong resident of Glenville, discusses growing up in Glenville during the 1950's and 1960's. He describes the self-contained nature of Glenville and the importance of churches to the community. Rivers relates the change in racial make-up of the neighborhood, the gradual shift towards an all African-American population and the decline of neighborhood businesses. He notes the change in African-American attitudes following the Hough and Glenville riots. This change contributed…

James Mancino, born in South Euclid in 1939, was chief legal council for the city of Cleveland during the Glenville riots of 1968. He gives a first hand account of the riots, the civic responses, and his role as legal council. Mancino was also involved in defending the city during legal battles over urban renewal, and describes lessons learned from the urban renewal process. As legal council for the city, Mancino worked closely with Mayor Carl Stokes, who he describes as "a rare individual."…

Virgil E. Brown Sr., resident of Cleveland Heights, moved to Cleveland in 1929 at age twelve. Brown relates his experiences growing up during the Depression, including local schools, baseball games and the availability of part time jobs. Schools and ball teams were racially and ethnically mixed, and he does not remember much racial tension at that time. Brown discusses the changes in shopping habits; the shift from local shops and downtown stores to malls and big box stores, and the loss of…

Fred Johnson and Anna Marie, long time Cleveland residents discuss growing up in Cleveland as African-Americans. Fred, a former Cleveland policeman, discusses racial discrimination faced by African-American policemen from the 1950's through the 1970's, the Black Shield Officer's Association and National Black Police Association. Anna Marie describes the Cedar Central neighborhood, shopping and movies, streetcars, and layout of neighborhood now known as Fairfax. Other topics include the positive…

Emily Peck, retired school principal, born and raised in Memphis, came to Cleveland in 1950. She relates her experiences as an African-American woman living in Cleveland in the 1950's. Race relations in the 1950's were not overtly troubled, but Peck describes the rise of resentment as African-Americans attempted to move into immigrant neighborhoods. Peck notes lack of opportunity for African-Americans, the emphasis on education amongst middle-class blacks, and their perseverance to create and…

Dr. John Grabowski, professor of history at Case Western Reserve University, and historian at Western Reserve Historical Society, details the changes that have occurred in the University Circle since his undergraduate days in the late 1960's; the rise of the medical centers, new housing and the new immigration to the area. As a history major at Western Reserve University in 1969, he describes life as a commuter student during the late 1960's and early 1970's, including anti-war activities, and…

Linwood Smith, a member of the Carl Stokes Mayoral Administration, recalls his time working for the city in the 1960s. He describes the riots in Hough and Glenville. He describes the Model Cities program and how people were incredulous that "free" money was coming to them through a $4,000 grant. They always thought there were strings attached. Smith then goes into the problems that Carl Stokes had to deal with, and he lists the police force as first and foremost. Smith discusses the chain of…

Carol Malone, a current Central resident, recalls her past growing up in Glenville and Shaker. She describes her family life and what predominately African American neighborhoods were like at a young age and compares them to today. Also, she describes the businesses and the people who lived in the Central neighborhood and either the businesses or buildings that still exist today.

Richard Schaffer works with the Glenville Development Corporation and is working on creating a garden pathway in the Glenville neighborhood as a way to green and beautify the area. The community has been receptive and involved due to the open forum approach to creating the garden. Richard Schaffer also discusses the Hough and Glenville riots along with the renovation of Notre Dame Catholic School on Ansel Rd. in Glenville.