“Part of our mission at the Historical Society is to collect, archive and present Middletown’s history,” Ashworth said. “It’s an important part of Middletown’s history that hasn’t been told.”
Middletown NAACP President Dora Bronston is familiar with the project and said one of the more interesting facts to her is the Pendleton Art Center is located on one of the Underground Railroad sites.
“We have such a history here in Middletown that we have not been aware of,” said Bronston.
Though the story is being told from the perspective of blacks settling in the city, Bronston said it’s not just a history of the city’s black community. “It’s our history, our community history,” she said. The project, which is funded by several private donations, started out as looking into Middletown’s role in the Underground Railroad, but as the project unfolded, Ashworth said, “You couldn’t tell the story without telling the rest of it.”
The rest of it includes the origins of slavery beginning in 1619, through the anti-slavery movement and the turn of the century until 1930.
The Middletown African-American Heritage and Cultural Center is planning a project to tell the story of the black community from 1930 on, Ashworth said.
And until 1900, there were not many black families living in Middletown, Ashworth said.
According to the research, during the country’s slavery era, black families came to the city either through the Underground Railroad or as freed slaves.
Also according to the research, Armco, the predecessor to AK Steel, built its Eastside Works plant in 1910 because of its growth, but when World War I started in 1914, much of its workforce had left the country because of their European and German heritage.
With the lack of workers and the need to fill a government order for more than 1 million artillery shells, Armco began recruiting in Appalachia and the South. Many white families came from Appalachia and many black families came from the South, Ashworth said.
“The ultimate goal is to get it into every school in the Middletown school system so (students) can have access to this very important part of Middletown history, which hasn’t really been told before,” Ashworth said.
Ashworth said there’s no timeline for a showing, but a premier of the documentary will likely be presented sometime in May, and will be for sale after the premiere.
Copies of the project will be donated to the school district.
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