Sat 2/28 @ 2PM
On Sat 2/28 at 2PM, the Cleveland Digital Public Library will showcase African American history month, highlighting several families and an organization that have close ties to Cleveland’s history. The event is intended to be an informal introduction about local history, taking articles (books, photos, diaries, etc.) and presenting them through digital technology. The original materials will be digitized and visually displayed on the new library wall, explored through an interactive video exhibit celebrating Cleveland’s rich African American history.
In addition, a community conversation will be led by special guest speakers and dig deep into three important Cleveland stories: 1) Theodore Pinkston – Theodore Teddy Pinkston was instrumental in integrating Cleveland’s labor movement 2) Hough and Black Nationalism in Cleveland – the history of activism and Black Nationalism in Cleveland through family records, photos and artifacts 3) Ulysses Glen and Cleveland’s East Side Daily News – these remembrances and artifacts illustrate the importance and influence of alternative news sources in Cleveland’s African American community.
“We’re hoping to do an event at least every one or two months,” says Digital Library Strategist Chatham Ewing. “Each event will highlight a different aspect of our project, but the theme that underlies everything that we do is that we are really interested in finding out about the extraordinary stories that ordinary Clevelanders have — the things that all of us have about our work day lives that hold up the world, that make it possible for the city to continue and the region to continue.”
Ewing continues, “It’s not about heroes or giant movements, but it’s about the small things that happen to everyone — children, husbands, wives, mothers, sisters and brothers — and how it is we can learn more about one another and share our lives in a more effective way through the use of this digital technology. It’s about how we can use this to help our children to learn to better understand one another in their world.”
The digital library opening was February 14th. Despite the freezing temperatures, many people showed up for the big reveal. “We’ve gotten a great response from the public at large, both inside and outside of the library,” says Chatham. “Folks are really interested in finding ways to use our equipment and are seeking out our help and our guidance. Digital technology can enable things like we were never able to do this before.
“One of the things that I find exciting is this way to offer children in our school stories that they can relate to, because they are from their community. When teachers sit down and teach the units about local history, that are part of every school system’s curriculum, the teachers will have materials easily available to them through the Internet that help them to discuss their city, their place and the things that will be meaningful to the children in the schools. These are mirrors to those different digital libraries.”
Through its state library and Ohio Public Library Information Network, the state of Ohio sponsored 4 libraries (Columbus, Toledo, Cincinnati and Cleveland) statewide to enhance their abilities to provide digitization services. The goal is to help these cities obtain a stronger, more thorough documentation of Ohio history.
“All of the libraries are working together to find ways to capture local and regional history, drill down deep and share the kinds of stories and information that you find at the local level through local and oral history,” says Chatham. “It offers a fresh perspective on large historical events by learning about them through local perspectives and local eyes.”
This digital landmark exhibition and speaking showcase about Cleveland’s African American History is very defining and important history from right here within our region. So who should attend the event? “We’d love to have young people come, and when I say young people I mean high schoolers through 95 years old,” says Chatham.
“It might not be the kind of event that little children would enjoy because a number of the things we will be talking about are kind of adult. It’s simply that they might not understand some of these things that some of these collections discuss.” Ewing continues, “On the other hand, it might be good for children to understand that Mr. Pinkston decided it was wrong to only have a labor union made up of white men and decided to sue to make it otherwise. Or that Mr. Glenn decided to counteract the mean things that some of the newspapers and news media were saying about his neighborhood and made a newspaper that said the right thing so that everyone could understand the whole story. So, I expect that the best audience for this kind of stuff is high schoolers and up.”
The event is FREE and open to the public. It starts at 2PM and is expected to run one hour. Something else that’s cool about what the library is offering to people: digitizing services to the public. You can create your very own digital library collection, utilizing library staff for a service charge or doing a project on your own during regular hours. Learn more about this at the February 28th event.
Cleveland Digital Public Library
Cleveland, OH 44114