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James E. Campbell was governor of the State of Ohio from 1890-1892. From 1913-1924, he served as president of the Ohio Archaeological and Historical Society, which later became the Ohio Historical Society. His daughter Jessie Campbell Coons named Campbell Memorial Park for him in 1929 after educator Minnie R. Shrum deeded the land for the Shrum Indian Mound to the Ohio Historical Society. The park and mound were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1970.
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This nation’s landmark case on the U.S. Constitution’s Fourth Amendment prohibition against unreasonable searches and seizures began in Cuyahoga County. In 1967, for the first time in history, African-Americans both argued and heard a case at the U.S. Supreme Court. Defense attorney Louis Stokes and assistant prosecutor Reuben Payne debated limits on police searches before the first African-American Supreme Court Justice, Thurgood Marshall. The Supreme Court held that Officer Martin McFadden’s frisk and seizure of guns from suspects on Euclid Avenue about to rob a jewelry store was constitutional. They upheld Cuyahoga County Appellate Court Judges Joseph Silbert, Joseph Artl, and J.J.P. Corrigan and adopted the rule trial Judge Bernard Friedman issued: Police may search for weapons if they have a reasonable suspicion that a suspect is armed and dangerous.
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The Twenty-third Ohio Volunteer Infantry was the first Ohio regiment mustered for three years’ service in the Civil War, and also the first Ohio regiment in which the field officers were appointed by the governor of Ohio. Known as the “Regiment of Presidents,” the 23rd OVI had among its ranks several future politicians, including two future presidents: Commissary Sergeant William McKinley and Lieutenant Colonel Rutherford B. Hayes. The 23rd OVI suffered its greatest losses in the 1862 Antietam Campaign in the battles of South Mountain on September 14 and Antietam on September 17. While a large number of its wounded members, including Lieutenant Colonel Hayes, were lying in hospitals near the battlefields, the convalescing soldiers resolved to erect a regimental monument to the dead, and a subscription was started. (Continued on other side)
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Bethel A.M.E. Church was the first African American church in Worthington. Black residents joined Worthington’s established churches as early as 1847 or worshipped together in their homes. Peter Banks with D.H. Taborn, Charles Kiner, J.T. Horton, and James Birkhead organized the A.M.E. congregation in 1896. Rapid growth moved their meetings to the Worthington Town Hall by 1897. A lot was purchased from Millie Alston on September 24, 1897, and a house relocated to serve as Bethel Chapel. Local carpenter Chester Hard constructed a new building that was dedicated as St. John A.M.E. in 1914. The church has served as the religious and social hub of Worthington’s Black community for more than a century. While St. John A.M.E. Church retains their original location, worship services moved to 7700 Crosswoods Drive in 2004.
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Here in 1963 congregants of Beth Israel-The West Temple, led by Louis Rosenblum, Herb Caron, and Rabbi Daniel Litt, founded the Cleveland Committee (later Council) on Soviet Anti-Semitism, the first American organization created to advocate for freedom for Soviet Jews. In 1970 this work led to the formation of the Union of Councils for Soviet Jews (UCSJ) under the leadership of Louis Rosenblum. The UCSJ, whose national office was located here 1970-1973, became the largest independent Soviet Jewry organization in the world. By the turn of the 21st century, the efforts begun here helped 1.6 million Jews leave the former Soviet Union. (Continued on other side)
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“…on Sunday morning, especially in the African American community, you could go down the street and hear The Wings Over Jordan just coming from everybody’s house….” Glenn Brackens, 2017. Upholding the sanctity of traditional African American spirituals, believing in the power of radio to uplift listeners, and recognizing his choir’s rich talent, Rev. Glenn T. Settle (1894-1967), pastor of Gethsemane Baptist Church, originated the “Negro Hour” on Cleveland’s WGAR in 1937. The Sunday morning radio show featured the choir’s moving renditions of spirituals and was originally directed by James Tate (1918-1986). Williette Firmbanks Thompson (1910-1992) was assistant director and a soloist (Continued on other side)
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Invited to speak at three Cleveland high schools, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his powerful “Rise Up!” speech to students at Glenville High School on April 26, 1967. It signaled King’s opening drive to elect African Americans to prominent government positions in northern cities. Encouraging students to “develop a sense of somebodiness,” King challenged them to “work passionately and unrelentingly for first-class citizenship.” Recognizing the fear of racial unrest in the city, King underscored the significance of nonviolence. “Our power lies in our ability to say non-violently that we’re not going to take it any longer,” he asserted. Making Carl Stokes’ mayoral bid the focus of his push for Black voters to elect Black leaders, King urged Glenville’s students to join civil rights organizations and community action programs.
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Guardians of Traffic,” four double-sided figural pylons towering over 40-feet above either end of the Hope Memorial Bridge, have connected Cleveland’s east and west side since 1932. They were designed by architect Frank R. Walker and lead sculptor Henry Hering. More than 20 immigrant stonemasons — many fromthe Italian village of Oratino — carved the figures at Ohio Cut Stone Company on Random Road from sandstone quarried in nearby Berea. The Italian sculptors lived or worshipped in Cleveland’s Little Italy. Each hand-carved Guardian holds a different vehicle, meant to portray the history of ground transportation. Voted “an outstanding architectural triumph” by the American Institute of Steel Construction in 1936, the bridge and its iconic Guardians were added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.
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