Category: African American History

OWENS, JESSE (12 September 1913-31 March 1980), was a world record setting track-and-field athlete during the 1930s. In 1950 sportswriters voted him as the world's top track star of the century. Born on a tenant farm in Oakville, Alabama, to Henry and Emma Alexander Owens, Jesse migrated with his family to Cleveland in 1922.

PEAKE, GEORGE (1722-Sep. 1827)—last name sometimes spelled Peek or Peak—the first AFRICAN AMERICAN to settle permanently in Cleveland and something of an inventor, developing a new hand mill for grinding grain, was a native of Maryland and former resident of Pennsylvania. Peake came to Cleveland with his wife and 2 sons in Apr. 1809.

Pi is a Cleveland-centered chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha, the oldest extant AFRICAN AMERICAN intercollegiate fraternity. For the first few decades of its existence, it was one of the largest and most influential chapters in the fraternity.

REED, VIVIAN BROWN (1942 - 20 Aug. 1998) was a track and field star who competed in the 1964 Olympic games and later became a successful high school coach. She was born in Detroit to Lois and Cornelius Brown. Her family moved to Cleveland when she was young.

REEDUS,  MAURICE JR.  "SAX MAN" (19 January 1953 – 16 April  2018), was a successful saxophone player whose popular performances enabled legislation permitting busking on the streets of Cleveland.

ROBERT P. MADISON INTERNATIONAL, INC., is an architectural firm founded in 1954 by Robert P. Madison and his brothers, Julian and Bernard. A Cleveland native and graduate of EAST TECHNICAL HIGH SCHOOL, Robert P.

ROBINSON, FRANK  (31 August 1935-7 February 2019) was a Hall of Fame baseball player and the first African-American manager in the major leagues, for the CLEVELAND INDIANS.

ROCK & ROLL comprises a cacophony of musical forms. Yet few would disagree that it emanates primarily from a handful of traditionally Black styles: blues, jazz, and gospel.

RUFFIN, BERNIECE WORTHINGTON (18 Mar. 1916-26 June 1998) became the first African-American supervisor at the Cleveland Board of Education's downtown administration building in 1964. She was born in Wren, Ohio, to Louis W. and Leona Worthington. Her father was a farmer. In 1938, Ruffin graduated from Wilberforce University, where she joined the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority.

SCHOENFELD, MAX (30 May 1915-7 Mar. 1999) was a labor, civil rights and peace activist as well as a prolific photographer who served many years both on the executive board of the UNITED AUTO WORKERS LOCAL 45 and as a member of the Congress on Racial Equality. He was born in New Haven, CT to Ethel and Samuel Schoenfeld, who owned a neighborhood drug store.

SHILOH BAPTIST CHURCH is the oldest congregation of black BAPTISTS in Cleveland and second only to

SLAUGHTER, FLEET, (24 July 1919-23 Aug. 1975), an AFRICAN AMERICAN business and civic leader, was born in New Orleans, La. After graduating from McDonogh No.

ST.

ST. CATHERINE PARISH obtained parish status from the Diocese of Cleveland in 1898 and chose its name to honor the mother of Cleveland's third bishop, the Right Reverend IGNATIUS F. HORSTMANN.

ST. HENRY PARISH was established with the permission of Bishop EDWARD F. HOBAN in the Lee-Miles neighborhood of Cleveland in 1946. The Bishop appointed Father John A. Hreha to lead the newly established parish.

ST. JOHN'S AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL (AME) CHURCH was the first AFRICAN-AMERICAN church, and the only permanent one, to be established in Cleveland during the antebellum period.

ST. PAUL AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL (AME) CHURCH is the oldest AFRICAN-AMERICAN congregation on Cleveland's West Side. St. Paul originated from informal meetings held by adherents of the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) denomination at the home of the Williams family on Peerlor Avenue in 1919 under the leadership of Rev. T. J. Evans.

ST.

STARR, EDWIN (born Charles Edwin Hatcher) (21 January 21, 1942 – 2 April 2, 2003), was an internationally renowned African-American singer, whose musical career spanned more than four decades and multiple genres of popular music.. 

STOKES, CARL B. (21 June 1927-3 April 1996) became the first AFRICAN-AMERICAN mayor of a major U.S. city when he was elected mayor of Cleveland in November 1967. He later became a news anchorman, judge, and a United States Ambassador.