Tour the three stops on the new Cleveland African American Civil Rights Trail with Aaron Fountain, UUCC attendee and Cleveland Restoration Society Fellow who directed the installation. The tour, sponsored by the Racial Justice Leadership Team, will leave from the UUCC parking lot on Saturday, May 13, at 1 pm and will last about 3 hours. Reservations required at [email protected].

The award-winning Cleveland African American Civil Rights Trail is the first of its kind for a major northern American city. Through the installation of historical markers and a dynamic website, the project commemorates ten sites that shaped the civil rights movement in Cleveland. The website (clevelandcivilrightstrail.org) provides visitors with longer writeups about the sites, oral history interviews, and multimedia content. As of April 29, four markers are in the ground at their prospective locations, but we will visit three of them on May 13th:

The Carl B. Stokes marker sits outside of City Hall and recognizes Stokes’ significant election as the first African American elected as mayor of a major American city. Cory United Methodist Church, located in the Glenville neighborhood, served as a hub for grassroots organizing and hosted prominent civil rights leaders that include Thurgood Marshall, W.E.B. Du Bois, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Malcolm X. The Ludlow Community’s marker commemorates a neighborhood that sits on the border of Cleveland and Shaker Heights and pioneered integrated housing during an error of blockbusting and redlining.

The tour will be led by Aaron G. Fountain, Jr. formerly worked as the African American Cultural Heritage Fellow at the Cleveland Restoration Society from 2022 to 2023. Last year, he completed a PhD in history at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana. His research documents 1960s and 1970s high school student activism in the San Francisco Bay area. While enrolled, he published articles and op-eds in various academic journals and media outlets. Currently, he’s working on a book project related to his dissertation and works as a web content editor for the Smithsonian’s Museum of African American History and Culture.

We will meet at 1:00 in the church parking lot and will arrange cars to carpool.  Reservations required at [email protected] by May 10. Contact Nancy King Smith or Suzanne Zilber for more information.