Cleveland 19 Action News anchorman and reporter Harry Boomer Frances, executive director of the African-American Museum of Clevelamd
www.clevelandurbannews.com) / (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com). Tel: (216) 659-0473 and Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com, We have more than three million projected Internet viewers via Google Plus, Facebook, our website and blog, Twitter, and elsewhere. Thanks for reading us.
By Kathy Wray Coleman, editor-in-chief
CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, CLEVELAND, Ohio-The African-American Museum of Cleveland will host a capital improvement fundraiser on Friday, April 15 from 5 pm-8 pm at the University Circle Bed and Breakfast at 1575 East 108th Street in Cleveland, Ohio, its executive director, France Caldwell, said in a press release to Cleveland Urban News.Com. (Donations will be accepted at the door. For more information contact Caldwell at (216) 374-2899. The program, for purposes of media attendance, will begin at 5:45 pm).
"For now the museum is closed," said Caldwell, in an interview last week. "And it is in dire need of repairs."
Veteran Cleveland 19 Action News anchor and reporter Harry Boomer, who resides in the Huff area in Ward 7 on the city's east side where the museum is located on Crawford Road, is the master of ceremonies and speakers include former state senator Shirley Smith, activist Genevieve Mitchell, who is also a museum board member, and Cleveland councilpersons.
"I have offered my support," Smith told Cleveland Urban News.Com, Ohio's most read digital Black newspaper. "It is a worthy initiative."
Cleveland Councilman Kevin Conwell is a key organizer of the event, also endorsed by Ward 7 Councilman T.J. Dow, local councilmen Jeff Johnson and Michael Polensek, and Cuyahoga County Councilwoman Yvonne Conwell.
In addition to Mitchell, a former Cleveland School Board member, museum board members also include museum board president John A. Boyd, Mae Williams, Dr. Saul Ivy, Theodore Guerry of Black on Black Crime Inc., and Mestophia Frame.
"We urge everyone to attend to support this worthwhile endeavor for a historical African-American history museum that showcases the achievements and contributions of Black pioneers and pacesetters in Cleveland, and in the region," said Caldwell.
Formerly the Afro-American Cultural and Historical Society Museum the African-American Museum of Cleveland was founded in 1953 by the late Icabod Flewellen and is housed in a 100-year-old Carnegie Library building. "
Cleveland is home to numerous Blacks of distinction, from politicians to inventors and historians, to academicians, actors, sports figures, scientists, media personalities, and community activists. They include Garrett Morgan, who invented the gas mask and the stop light, and the late Carl B. Stokes, the first Black mayor of Cleveland and of a major American city.
Stokes' older brother and only sibling, the late Louis Stokes, was the first Black congressman from Ohio.
The late Stephanie Tubbs Jones was the first Black female congressperson from Ohio, and retired judge Sara J. Harper and 8th District Court of Appeals Judge Patricia Ann Blackmon were the first Black women elected to a state appellate court in Ohio.
The list is long, data show, on how Black Americans, across time, have contributed to a better Cleveland, a better Ohio, and a better nation.
The focus of the Black museum, in part, said Caldwell, is to "work to educate young people about the positive contributions of Blacks to the cultures of the world, and to eliminate the distorted portrayals and images of black people."
Friday's fundraiser will supplement a $150,000 grant allocated in this year's state budget for museum repairs.
Caldwell said that the $150,000 capital improvement project cannot go forward unless the museum comes up with $5,000 for insurance. www.clevelandurbannews.com) / (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com). Tel: (216) 659-0473 and Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com
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