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Desegregation of Cleveland Public Schools
Historical Marker Unveiling
October 2nd, 2025
Witness the next Cleveland Civil Rights Trail Marker Dedication happening October 2, at 4pm!
This Civil Rights Trail designation and ceremony commemorate the desegregation of Cleveland Public Schools which was at the center of the city’s civil rights movement in the 1950s and 1960s. The new marker will be located at the corner of E.6th St. and Rockwell Ave. outside of the former Cleveland Board of Education building, now home to the Drury Hotel.
During the 1950’s and 1960’s, segregation in Cleveland Public Schools was at the center of city’s civil rights movement. The African American community mobilized as never before to end Cleveland’s reputation of a “behind the scenes” approach to race relations. The use of pickets, sit-ins, and marches was adopted largely from southern civil rights movement strategies to fight institutional racism and segregation. The most blatant tactics by the school board that drew protests were relay classes, intact busing, school construction, and abuse of the ‘neighborhood school policy’.
Learn more about the Desegregation of Cleveland Public Schools CLICK HERE
Olivet Institutional Baptist Church
Historical Marker Unveiling
November 14th, 2024
Cleveland Restoration Society invites you to the newest Cleveland Civil Rights Trail marker unveiling taking place on November 14th. The marker, to be installed at Olivet Institutional Baptist Church at 8712 Quincy Avenue, honors the church’s important role in Cleveland’s Civil Rights movement. More information about this event will be released soon.
As one of the largest African American churches in Ohio, the Olivet Institutional Baptist Church was a civil rights hub under the leadership of Rev. Odie M. Hoover who was known for his connection to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and his work to advance civil rights.
Hoover made Olivet the headquarters of Dr. King whenever he visited Cleveland. In 1966, it opened the O. M. Hoover Christian Community to provide fellowship and recreation services for its members and the community at large. In 1974, Civil Rights activist Rev. Otis Moss, Jr. became pastor at Olivet and worked continuously to improve the quality of life for residents in the Fairfax neighborhood.
The humble beginnings of Olivet Institutional Baptist grew out of congregants of the Triedstone Baptist Church. During the Great Depression Era, former members of Triedstone began holding worship services in 1931 in a small building on Quincy Avenue, which later became known as the New Light Baptist Church. Reverend A. W. Nix served as the church’s first pastor. Under the leadership of Rev. Nix, the membership grew from 40 to 150, and later increased substantially after Rev. N. H. Armstrong succeed Nix in 1933. During the pastorate of Rev. Armstrong, the congregation expanded to roughly 500 members. Also, during this time, the church changed its name to Olivet Baptist Church.
After the departure of Rev. Armstrong in 1937, the congregation moved to a new sanctuary on East 55th Street and Central Avenue, where it shared space with the Mount Zion Congregational Church. During this transition, the church membership declined drastically, to approximately 30 members. That same year, Rev. Eugene W. Ward became the pastor. Within a year as pastor, he greatly increased the membership. As a result, the shared space was too small and the church was relocated to a more spacious location. Bohemian Hall on Quincey Avenue became the home of the new church.
Amidst legal controversy concerning the name Olivet, because another church also claimed rights to that name, the congregation was forced to change the church’s name to Second Olivet Baptist Church. Within a few years, the church experienced more exponential growth. In 1950, members of the church raised enough money to purchase property on Quincey Ave and build a new edifice. Two years later, before the project was completed, Rev. Ward was succeeded by Rev. Odie M. Hoover.
Learn more about Olivet Institutional Baptist Church HERE
The Hough Uprising
Historical Marker Unveiling
September 5th, 2024 at 1:00 pm
Cleveland Restoration Society invites you to the newest Cleveland Civil Rights Trail marker unveiling taking place on September 5 from 1-3 p.m. The marker, to be installed on the corner of E. 79th Street and Hough, reflects on the Hough Uprising, its causes, and its impact on the community.
The Hough Uprising occurred in the summer of 1966. It is said to have been the result of a dispute in a café at E. 79th and Hough Avenue. Whatever the case, days of vandalism, looting, arson, and gun violence, stemming from years of racial tension and discrimination against Black residents, resulted.
Five days of violence ended with four people dead, 50 injured, and 275 arrested. The event made a lasting impact on the city.
The Hough Uprising was rooted in both long-term and more immediate factors. As the Civil Rights Movement played out in the South, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. came to Cleveland during the 1963 Birmingham Campaign to raise bail money for protestors arrested by Bull Connor, the Commissioner of Public Safety in Birmingham. While here, he discovered that conditions in the North presented different challenges. Blacks, who moved to Northern cities during and after WWI and WWII, were forced to live in segregated racial neighborhoods due to restrictive housing covenants. During this early transition, some Black neighborhoods in Cleveland thrived, consisting of homeownership, Black-owned businesses, churches, as well as civic organizations and clubs; however, over time, many of these areas soon became communities of poverty and the residents experienced depreciating home values, inadequate housing, and lack of access to a quality education, which were largely due to institutionalized racial practices and political indifference. During the 1950s, middle-class Whites moved out of Hough as working-class Blacks moved into the community.
By the late 1960s, Hough’s population was comprised mostly of Black Americans. Hough’s problems were directly related to White flight, mortgage redlining by banks, poor housing, deed restrictions, and threats of violence to Black families who dared to move into White neighborhoods. The obstacles Blacks faced attempting to relocate into White neighborhoods due to these restrictions did not help to mitigate their already oppressed living conditions. For example, Hough and the adjoining Glenville community became overcrowded with multiple families living in single-family homes. Sanitation suffered, buildings became dilapidated, schools were inferior and congested, and businesses in the areas continued to be run by White owners who charged predatory prices for goods to a population trapped by poverty and lack of transportation. Police used repressive tactics to control the population.
In June 1966, tension flared between Whites and Blacks in and around Sowinski Park, as well as the Sowinski and Hough neighborhoods. The Jomo Freedom Kenyatta House (J. F. K.), located at 8801 Superior Avenue, was a Black youth center organized by activists Lewis Robinson, Harllel Jones, and Albert Ware. Superior Avenue was the border where most of the disturbances took place. Local newspapers consistently and wrongly blamed the rising tensions solely on the J. F. K. House and its leaders. There was violence and counterviolence from both white and black youths.
Learn more about the Hough Uprising HERE.
Greater Abyssinia Baptist Church
Historical Marker Unveiling
November 2nd, 2023 at 10:30am
Join Cleveland Restoration Society at Greater Abyssinia Baptist Church on Thursday, November 2nd, 2023 at 10:30am for the unveiling of the Greater Abyssinia Historic Marker, to honor the church’s important role in Cleveland’s Civil Rights movement. The church will be open for tours a half hour before and after this ceremony. This program is free and open to the public.
Following the marker unveiling at 11:30am, Cleveland Restoration Society’s annual Community Luncheon will be held at the neighboring Cory United Methodist Church. This is a ticketed event, and registration is open HERE.
Greater Abyssinia stands as a landmark in Cleveland’s civil rights movement. Under the 62-year leadership of Rev. Dr. E. Theophilus Caviness, the church has been a hub for civil rights activism and community engagement. In 1964, members of the church formed a Civil Rights Committee to aid and assist the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the Urban League, the Congress of Racial Equality, and the United Freedom Movement (UFM). The church served as the headquarters of the UFM, which was on the frontlines of Cleveland’s civil rights campaign to desegregate its public schools. The Greater Abyssinia Baptist Church, its leadership, members, and community engagement are exemplary examples of Cleveland’s civic leadership and commitment to racial equality.
The steady leadership of the Rev. Dr. E. Theophilus Caviness in both the civic and political life of Cleveland and his exceptionally long tenure in religious circles distinguish him and the church he leads in the Civil Rights movement in Cleveland.
In conjunction with the Greater Abyssinia Baptist Church Historic Marker Unveiling Ceremony, the Cleveland Restoration Society’s Community Luncheon this year will honor Rev. Dr. Caviness, pastor of Greater Abyssinia. Installed at Greater Abyssinia in November 1961, Rev. Caviness has been a crucial player in many pivotal moments of Cleveland’s Civil Rights movement. A friend and supporter of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Rev. Caviness organized clergy in Cleveland to support King’s Selma to Montgomery movement and supported his voting registration efforts in Cleveland to elect Carl B. Stokes, the nation’s first African American mayor of a major U.S. city.
Stokes later appointed Caviness as the first Black person to chair the Zoning Board. Caviness also served as Councilman for Ward 25. Cleveland Mayor George V. Voinovich appointed Caviness as special assistant, and as governor, named him the chair of the Ohio Civil Rights Commission. Rev. Dr. Caviness’s relationship with Governor Voinovich proved crucial in saving Central State University, one of Ohio’s most important historically Black land-grant universities in Wilberforce, Ohio. These political positions allowed him unique access to power that he used to help further civil rights, social justice and economic parity issues.
Learn more about Greater Abyssinia Baptist Church and Rev. Dr. Caviness HERE.
Ali Summit Historical Marker Unveiling
at Cleveland Browns Stadium, South Plaza
September 8th, 2023 at 4pm
Join Cleveland Restoration Society and the Cleveland Browns at the Cleveland Browns Stadium for the unveiling of the Ali Summit Marker to honor the historic event and the Cleveland Browns athletes who were involved.
It happened right here in Cleveland. On June 4, 1967, at 105-15 Euclid Ave. at the Negro Industrial and Economic Union headquarters, boxer Muhammad Ali sat among a group of ten men and reiterated to reporters his refusal to be inducted into the Vietnam War. The men, who consisted of former and current professional and collegiate athletes—largely from the Cleveland Browns—and then-attorney Carl Stokes, all stood alongside Ali after failing to change his mind. On principle, they stood in solidarity with him and received criticism for their decision. Just two weeks later, an all-White jury found Ali guilty of draft evasion. He was released on bail pending an appeal, but had his passport confiscated and took a hiatus from boxing. In 1971, the Supreme Court reversed his conviction.
The Ali Summit and Negro Industrial and Economic Union represented the merging of civil rights activism, the anti-Vietnam war movement, and professional athletes’ involvement in national and local politics. Members of the Union were embedded in Cleveland’s Black community, understood its struggles, and used their resources and status as celebrities to facilitate change. For these reasons, the summit and the Union have been chosen as a part of the Cleveland Civil Rights Trail.
Learn more about the Ali Summit and Negro Industrial and Economic Union HERE.
African American Cultural Garden Juneteenth Celebration & Historical Marker Dedication,
June 19, 2023
Cleveland Restoration Society is pleased to announce its first Partner Site on Cleveland’s Civil Rights Trail!
The African American Cultural Garden will be another stop along the Trail. The African American Cultural Garden marks the struggle for equitable access to public space and the representation of Black cultural heritage. Please join the Association of African American Cultural Gardens and the Cleveland Restoration Society for a historical marker dedication on June 19th! The ceremony will be held at 11:45 am in the Cultural Gardens and is a part of the organization’s Juneteenth Celebration beginning at 10:00 am.
The Cleveland Cultural Gardens in Rockefeller Park were designed as part of an effort beginning in 1926 to promote ethnic pride and cultural understanding. Yet, non-whites were not considered a part of this effort for many years. The effort to establish an African American Cultural Garden began in 1961. After 16 years of fighting for a space in the garden, land was dedicated in 1977. Learn more about the fight for equitable representation in the Cleveland Cultural Gardens and its association with Cleveland’s Civil Rights Movement HERE.
Visit the African American Cultural Gardens website for additional information HERE.
Glenville High School Marker Unveiling,
April 29, 2023
Cleveland Restoration Society is coming together with the Cleveland Metropolitan School District to make the next stop on the Cleveland Civil Rights Trail official. This event combines an historical marker unveiling ceremony at Glenville High School, commemorating Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s message to young people more than 50 years ago along with the 10th Annual Glenville High School Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Scholarship Program. This event will take place on Saturday, April 29th, 2023 at 10am at Glenville High School, 650 East 113th Street in Cleveland.
Glenville High School Principal Latonia Davis is organizing the event, sponsored by the Glenville Alumni Association and the Glenville Parent Organization.
Admission is free. All proceeds benefit the scholarship program, and donations are accepted. A rebroadcast of Dr. King’s speech to the high school on April 26, 1967, is a primary program feature, plus video of related events.
Contact Peggy Sexton, CRS Events Coordinator, at 216-426-3102 or email psexton@clevelandrestoration.org with questions
History of Civil Rights in Cleveland Webinar
In this webinar, Nishani Frazier, an Associate Professor of History and American Studies at the University of Kansas discusses the civil rights movement in Cleveland. In conjunction with the Cleveland Civil Rights Trail, Frazier covers the long arch of political activism among Black Clevelanders from around the city’s founding to the modern civil rights era, and documents how this rich history relates to the present day.
Ludlow From Hough to Ludlow: Exploring Cleveland’s History on the Civil Rights Trail, January 11, 2023
Hop onto the Cleveland Civil Rights Trail website and you’ll be greeted by an invitation to “walk the path to equality and learn the history that was made across Cleveland during the 1950s, 60s and 70s—history that’s still being made today.” Not all cities are so fortunate as to have a historical resource like this one, where visitors can literally stand in the place where change happened and become immersed in the powerful stories of Cleveland’s courageous contributions to legislative and social progress. In advance of MLK Day, learn about the early grassroots organizing efforts by civil rights leaders who helped reshape our city and about the civil rights trail that documents their path. Moderator Natoya J. Walker Minor, Chair of the Trail’s Community Engagement Committee, is joined by Kathleen Crowther of the Cleveland Restoration Society, the organization that carefully maintains the trail, Donna McIntyre Whyte, Ph.D., research consultant with the Cleveland Restoration Society, Aaron G. Fountain, Jr., Ph.D., Scholar in Residence at the Civil Rights Trail; and Patricia Hoover, Daughter of the Rev. Odie Hoover, a Civil Rights Trail contributor.
Ludlow Community Association Marker Unveiling, October 20, 2022
Members are invited to the unveiling of a historical marker for the Ludlow Community Association on Thursday, Oct. 20 at 4 p.m., at the intersection of Hampton and Corby Roads in Cleveland.
This ceremony will recognize the Ludlow Community Association as a national example of a neighborhood development model. Established in 1957 after the bombing of a home that belonged to an African American family, it remarkably reversed white flight and maintained a well-balanced, integrated neighborhood for at least 30 years and rebuked widely-held beliefs about integrated living. For this reason, the Ludlow neighborhood has been selected as a site of significance on Cleveland’s African American Civil Rights Trail.
The event will feature a historian, public dignitaries, as well as current and past officers of the Ludlow Community Association.
The event will take place rain or shine. Free on-street parking in the neighborhood will be available.
For more information about this event, contact Peggy Sexton, Events Coordinator, at psexton@clevelandrestoration.org.
Carl B. Stokes Marker Unveiling, June 8, 2022
The Cleveland Restoration Society & Cleveland African American Civil Rights Trail Committee cordially invites you to attend the historical marker unveiling ceremony honoring the first Black mayor of a major American city Carl B. Stokes. The ceremony will take place at 11:00 a.m. on Wednesday, June 8, 2022, at Cleveland City Hall, 6-1 Lakeside Ave. E. Immediately following, the Cleveland Restoration Society will be serving a 50th birthday cake in honor of its anniversary.
Cory United Methodist Church Marker Unveiling, June 8, 2022
On December 10, 2021, the Cleveland Restoration Society unveiled its first marker on the Cleveland Civil Rights Trail, which belongs to the Cory United Methodist Church in the historic Glenville neighborhood.
Check out the photo gallery HERE
