Category: African American History

CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL was established on 13 July 1846, ten years after Cleveland was incorporated and 15 years before the CIVIL WAR began. Central High was the first public high school in Cleveland and the first free public high school west of the Alle

CHESNUTT, CHARLES WADDELL (20 June 1858-15 Nov. 1932) was an AFRICAN AMERICAN author and lawyer who dealt with sensitive issues, like race, from an African American point of view. Born in Cleveland to Andrew J. and Maria Chesnutt, the family moved to Fayetteville, North Carolina, where the Chesnutts had family ties.

CHESNUTT, HELEN MARIA (6 Dec. 1880-7 Aug. 1969), a Latin instructor and co-author of a Latin textbook, was a notable figure among the earliest women of color in American classical education.

CITY OF EAST CLEVELAND, OHIO V. MOORE resulted in a U.S. Supreme Court decision (31 May 1977) reversing an Ohio lower-court ruling and overturning an EAST CLEVELAND zoning ordinance that prohibited members of an extended family from living together in the same residence.

CLARKE, MELCHISEDECH CLARENCE (10 Nov. 1889-9 May 1956), known as M. C. or Mel, founded and developed agencies which enabled AFRICAN AMERICANS in Cleveland to obtain insurance and loans. He was the first African American member of the Cleveland Chamber of Commerce and served on Cleveland's city planning commission (1946).

The CLEVELAND ADVOCATE was an African American newspaper that flourished during the period of World War I and the great migration from the South. It was established on 15 May 1914 by ORMOND ADOLPHUS FORTE, a native of Barbados, British West Indies. According to Forte, who began working for the M. A. HANNA CO.

The CLEVELAND ASSOCIATION OF COLORED MEN was organized in June 1908 by black business and professional men to improve economic and social conditions for their race. It grew out of a smaller, more elite organization called the Cleveland Board of Trade (est. 1905), an affiliate of Booker T. Washington's National Negro Business League.

The CLEVELAND BUCKEYES, the last of a number of Cleveland teams that played in the professional Negro baseball leagues, also were the best, playing in 2 Negro World Series and winning in 1945.

The CLEVELAND CALL & POST rose from somewhat obscure origins to become long Cleveland's major African American newspaper. It was created from the 1927 merger of 2 struggling weeklies, the Call and the Post. The Call was founded ca. 1920 by a group that included local inventor GARRETT A. MORGAN.

The CLEVELAND COMMUNITY RELATIONS BOARD was created by the city council in March 1945 to improve relations among the racial and cultural groups within the community and to help ameliorate conditions which strained those relationships.

The CLEVELAND FREEDMEN'S AID SOCIETY was one of several similarly named organizations that assisted, primarily in the South, the newly released slaves during and just after the Civil War.

The CLEVELAND GAZETTE gave local AFRICAN AMERICANS their own newspaper for the first time since before the Civil War. Although founded on 25 Aug.

The CLEVELAND HERALD (1925) was the second attempt by ORMOND A. FORTE to found an African American newspaper. Like Forte's Cleveland Advocate (1914-24), it attempted to reconcile the self-help tradition of the older black leadership with the more aggressive tactics of a newer generation.

The CLEVELAND JOURNAL came into existence on 21 Mar. 1903, with the intention of providing an organ for African American business interests. Among the businessmen who founded the weekly were Welcome T. Blue, president of the Journal Publishing Co., and Nahum Daniel Brascher, who edited it during most of its existence.

CLEVELAND LIFE, a black community magazine, debuted in October, 1994. President and publisher James "Ricky" Crosby, an African-American, and chief executive Lou Reyes, Jr., a Hispanic, desired to create a publication that would highlight and serve middle- and upper-class blacks in the area.

CLEVELAND: NOW! was a joint public and private funding program for the revitalization of Cleveland which was announced by Mayor Carl B. Stokes 1 May 1968. Local businessmen, shocked by the April assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., agreed to cooperate with the city in a fundraising program to combat the ills of Cleveland's inner city in order to preserve racial peace.

CLEVELAND: NOW! was a joint public and private funding program for the revitalization of Cleveland which was announced by Mayor Carl B. Stokes 1 May 1968. Local businessmen, shocked by the April assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., agreed to cooperate with the city in a fundraising program to combat the ills of Cleveland's inner city in order to preserve racial peace.

CLIFFORD, CARRIE WILLIAMS, (Sept. 1862- 10 Nov. 1934) was a noted orator, poet, suffragist, and an activist for women and AFRICAN AMERICANS.

CLIFFORD, WILLIAM H. (8 Apr. 1862-10 Jan. 1929), a black Republican politician, as an Ohio legislator played an important role electing MARCUS A. HANNA to the U.S. Senate, casting the deciding vote in Hanna's favor in Jan. 1898. A native Clevelander, Clifford worked 7 years for the Woodruff Palace Car Co. before embarking in public service and politics.

COBB, WILLIAM MONTAGUE (12 October 1904-20 November 1990) was an AFRICAN AMERICAN activist-scholar who protested scientific racism, promoted African American healthcare, and tried to develop Black research; in 1932, he was the first B

CRAYTON, LEROY, (27 July 1900-10 Oct. 1963), an AFRICAN AMERICAN business and civic leader, was born in Adger, Alabama, a mining town outside Birmingham.

DAMERON, TADLEY “TADD” EWING was born Tadley Ewing Peake  (February 14, 1917- March 8, 1965) in Cleveland to Ruth Harris Dameron (then Ruth Harris Peake) and Isaiah Peake. By 1924, his parents had divorced and his mother remarried Aldophus Dameron, who adopted Dameron.

DANDRIDGE, DOROTHY (9 Nov. 1923-8 Sept. 1965), Cleveland-born black nightclub entertainer and movie actress, who earned a Best Actress Oscar nomination in 1954, was influenced by her mother, Ruby, a screen and radio actress. Dorothy entered show business at 5 as part of a singing trio with her mother and sister, Vivian.

DAVIS, BENJAMIN OLIVER JR. (18 December 1912 - 4 July 2002) was an AFRICAN AMERICAN pilot, Airforce General, and WW2 commander who temporarily served as Cleveland’s