Quilting African American Experiences in Northeast Ohio
Throughout the two semesters (Fall 2017 and 2018), the class of African American Literature (Professor Jewon Woo) at Lorain County Community College (Ohio) have observed how the intellectual history of African Americans has shaped our understanding of American citizenry. Despite the constant oppression against them, African Americans have expressed their humanity, individuality, and their civic qualification for American democracy. African American literature is not only shaped by a few well-known authors such as Frederick Douglass, Toni Morrison, and James Baldwin. But, their literary inventions were also possible in their recognition of the value of African Americans’ everyday experiences—unrecorded and untold histories in conventional ways. For instance, even though runaway slaves did not leave any written testimonies to their humanity and unquenchable desire for freedom, runaway slave advertisements, written by their owners, ironically reveal their voice as louder as self-authored slave narratives.
We, especially, notice that Ohio has served as a hub of African American culture and literature since its establishment of the Western Reserve. [Add the study of Black Ohioans here]
We keep it in mind that it is impossible to portray African American experience in a monolithic image. Because the term “African American” broadly represents African descents whose origins are in fact various over racial, geographical, ethnic, and cultural boundaries, we can witness dynamic differences within African American community, which demands our sensitivity to any attempt to stereotyping African American and further American experience. Therefore, we contribute our final project to diversifying African American experience through our research and narration about it. In particular, we discover local history or family history of Northeast Ohio, where we make our stories everyday, in the vein of our examination of African American literature and culture.
Contents
St. John's Episcopal Church, "Station Hope"
The Art of Dance: The Life of Adenike Sharpley
The Burrell Homestead: The Final Stop on the Underground Railroad
Sara Lucy Bagby: Her Life, Capture, and Liberation from Slavery
Carl B. Stokes
Westwood Cemetery: A Resting Place for the Fighters
Contact
You can use all information on this website for non-commercial purpose. Nevertheless, as much as the students-scholars have worked hard for these projects, when you use the information here, I hope you can correctly cite the web page for bibliography. If you have any question regarding the projects shared here, contact me <jwoo_at_lorainccc_dot_edu>.
