The city of Cleveland was founded in 1796, after Moses Cleaveland and a survey party of 22 arrived at the mouth of the Cuyahoga River while on a land exposition for Connecticut Land Company.  As more settlers came to the area, the “a” was dropped from the city’s name. Cleveland has its origins in 1786, when, after the American Revolutionary Way, Connecticut reserved some 3.5 million acres of the newly opened Ohio country in the northeast. Moses Cleaveland was sent out to oversee development of the land, and the completion of plans for a new town. It was not until 30 or so years later, that growth started spurting, following the canal connections of Lake Erie and the Ohio River, routed through to the Atlantic. With the advent of railroads, the city began its industrial life, deep in iron ore steel processing, chemical manufacture and oil refining. Cleveland also became a major shipping point for timber, and iron ore, and was the hub for transport of coal by rail.

    One of the first black settlers to the area was George Peake, who arrived in 1809.  African Americans would slowly trickle to the area and by 1860, at least 799 lived in a Cleveland community of over 43,000.  Like Philadelphia, Boston, Detroit and Toronto, Cleveland was a hot bead for the Abolitionist Movement.  The American Colonization Society had a branch in the area supporting efforts to free black slaves and repatriate them to Liberia. With its border on Lake Erie across from Canada, Cleveland was understandably a heavy traffic location on the Underground Railroad from 1830-1861.  By the 1840’s integration of public facilities was commonplace.  African Americans in Cleveland were better off then their brethren in most other northern cities, but this can be partially attributed to the fact that they weren’t many in number. 

    A mass migration of Blacks from the south occurred between 1890-1915.  Black population increased to 10,000 in the city.  As more African American arrived, previous citizens knew it meant competition for public resources and jobs.  Due to the hierarchy of discrimination, African Americans became the lowest rung on the socio-economic ladder after Italian and Jewish immigrants.  The outcome was predictable. African Americans were shut out or limited from attaining work opportunities in the steel mills and foundries, which were the economic backbone of the city.  By 1910, only 10 percent of the trades consisted of Black members.

    Shut out from higher paying jobs, African Americans became more self-reliant.  This philosophy was manifest in the work of Garrett Morgan, who owned a tailoring shop and a car.  The latter gave him the distinction as one of the few African Americans to own a car in the state of Ohio.  Owning a car inspired Morgan to invent the stop sign in August 1914; for which he received a patent in 1923.  Morgan also invented the gas mask used by American soldiers during World War I. 

    Since African Americans were prevented from service enlistment in large numbers, European Americans predominantly went to World War I.  This situation created a labor shortage quickly filled by African Americans.  As jobs increased, so did Black population.  The large increase of African Americans meant more encounters with renewed blatant job discrimination as young European American veterans returned after WWI to compete for jobs in Northern cities.  Cleveland was no exception in that regard. 

    Several responses emerged to such racial injustice.  A new breed of leaders led by Herbert Chauncey favored developing Black institutions based on community economics, rather than integrationist philosophies.  Integrationist groups like the Future Outlook League and the Cleveland NAACP fought job discrimination.  The increase in African American population slowly increased Black political power.  In 1927, three African Americans were elected to the city council.  By 1930, there were over 70,000 African Americans in the city.  Then Cleveland was hit my massive job loss, like every other city, during the 1930s Great Depression.

    The political and economic structure dramatically changed after World War II, when Cleveland’s Black population mushroomed to 250,000 by 1950.  Activities of the Congress of Industrial Organizations, which helped African Americans get jobs, remove various aspects of discrimination, particularly in hospitals and hotels.  By 1967, the large African American population and voter registration increase ushered in Carl Stokes, as the first Black mayor of a major city.  Meanwhile, many European Americans moved out of the city, eroding the tax base before new African American jobs could pick up the slack.

    After 25 years of economic turmoil, Cleveland is regaining its legs and public confidence.  Don King has an investment interest in the city’s oldest Black newspaper.  Many celebrities gleefully claim it as home.  Cleveland authorities had the wisdom to acknowledge many heroic efforts in the Hough community, by building a monument.  Smart urban planning in Cleveland, like Baltimore, St. Louis, and Memphis, has renewed the city’s image and activities in ways every tourist can appreciate. Black political leadership by a series of Black mayors, councilpersons and activists was instrumental in the city’s comeback and rising civic pride.