IF YOU GOWhat: “The Black Community in Southeast Tennesse: A Panel Discussion”When: 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. TuesdayWhere: Library at Cleveland State Community College
CLEVELAND, Tenn. — When two Cleveland State Community College employees started a project to put historical documents and pictures about Cleveland online, they realized that they didn’t have much history about blacks.
So they’re hosting a panel discussion this week to get information.
“Underrepresented groups in general were not being represented in the archives,” said Sarah Copeland, who works in the Cleveland State library. “One of the most glaring holes is there was no representation of the African-American community.”
Cleveland State history professor Bryan Reed said he hopes to get insight not found in historical documents, including the panelists’ personal experiences with integration and their accounts of urban renewal. He also wants information about people who held leadership roles in the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s.
Panelists include Cleveland’s vice mayor and District 3 city councilman, Avery Johnson; former NAACP chapter president the Rev. James Parris and Sharon Cox, one of four black students who integrated Bradley Central High School.
Also, Helen Miller, former principal and teacher of College Hill School, and Dr. Terril Littrell, spokesman for the African-American Historical Society of Bradley County, will participate.
The plan is to bring in community elders to talk about their experiences, said Mr. Reed, who also represents the Bradley County Historical Society.
“This is important because their experiences have not been preserved,” he said. “We have a few names and a few references to schools, but the actual experience is not there.”
The history of blacks in Cleveland needs to be recorded so that young people will know those who came before them, Mr. Johnson said.
“Before urban renewal blacks had restaurants, grocery stores and dry cleaners,” he said. “Those (persons) were role models that young people don’t see nowadays. When they see blacks today, they usually see them working for someone else.”
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