Local African American History Directory

Highlights of the collection

The HistoryMakers Video Oral History Interview with Margot James Copeland

Corporate executive Margot Copeland (1951 -) served as the executive vice president of diversity and chair of the foundation at KeyCorp from 2001. She was also national president of The Links, Incorporated. Copeland was interviewed…
Historical Record of African Americans in Cleveland

Historical record of African Americans in Cleveland, from Clarence H. Synder
Plate (Mother & Child)

Sterling Hykes often chose subjects for his enamel plaques and plates that reflect his interest in African art and his African American heritage. This work feature the image of an African woman with a stylized…
John R. Philen

John R. Philen, Class of 1902. Dr. Philen graduated from the Western Reserve University Medical School. He worked for a dairy farm on Chester Avenue to finance his education. He established a practice on East…
Rev. Albert Wagner, Painter

In 2001, Cleveland portrait photographer Herb Ascherman began an ambitious personal project to document 105 of Northeast Ohio’s most prominent visual artists in their studios. For this animated portrait, Reverend Albert Wagner (1924 – 2006)…
Albert G. Jones Papers

Albert G. Jones was an American Civil War veteran born in Lake County, Ohio. Jones served as a 2nd Lieutenant, 27th United States Colored Troops, a unit primarily composed of Ohio soldiers, from January 1864-September…
From Wade H. McKinney

McKinney, a family friend and pastor of Antioch Baptist Church, offers financial support to the bus boycotters and invites King to preach the Youth Day service at his church. On 29 February King thanked McKinney…
Revelations : Photographs of Cleveland’s African American Churches

“Photographer and teacher Mike Levy has spent most of his career in northeastern Ohio. Revelations grew out of an assignment from the Cleveland Plain Dealer to photograph a small, storefront church called Manna House. Levy…