Labor Day festivities in Cleveland included the unveiling of a new historic marker at the corner of Kinsman and East 147 th Street. It’s the first of six signs around the neighborhood that will be part of the Mount Pleasant Heritage Trail.
Cleveland’s first black mayor, Carl Stokes lived in Mount Pleasant. So did Cleveland Browns Hall of Fame running back Jim Brown. They’re the first to be recognized in a series of historic markers in this southeastern Cleveland neighborhood. Councilman Zack Reed talked about the community’s history at an unveiling ceremony on Labor Day.
At the turn of the century, what happened was that African-Americans started to buy homes in this community based on the fact that there was a man that had most of the property here and he started giving the property away to African-Americans. So when African-Americans started to move in this community, it became a different type of neighborhood.
Reed said he wanted young people to be inspired by the stories of Stokes and Brown. But Brown’s story comes with a history of aggression against women including an acquittal in 1965 for assault and battery of an 18 year old in his hotel room. In later years, he was accused of assaulting women in 3 separate incidents. Those charges were later dropped. Councilman Reed said it's a situation where you take the good, the bad and the ugly.
We’re not trying to coat over the fact that he may have done something in the past that we may not appreciate. But at the end of the day, our markers are about people who have gone on and done some good things in Mt. Pleasant.
Brown went on to star in movies including The Dirty Dozen and found the Amer-I-Can program. He dropped out of the heritage marker dedication ceremony at the last minute due to a conflict with another engagement.
Other markers will be dedicated to former Cleveland schools superintendent Andrew J Rickoff and landscape architect Charles Adams.
