Untold Stories: Akron

Akron, Ohio | 2019

Emily Davis Gallery
University of Akron
Akron, Ohio

The exhibition and related programming were funded in part by an ArtSTART grant from The Ohio Arts Council.

Untold Stories Exhibition Image, 2019

Untold Stories is a multi-venue project.

Untold Stories: Akron at the Emily Davis Gallery, University of Akron included my imaginary realism prints, curated archival materials I selected from the University of Akron Archives, and three videos featuring on-camera interviews with community members titled Working Class Jobs: Women + Race in the Rust Belt, Akron and Environs: Industrial and Agrarian Labor, and Opie Evans: Jennifer Vanderpool and Arnold Tunstall in Conversation with Marvin and Maddie Evans. Interviewing community members, I learned about racist and bigoted hiring policies at the tire plants, the history of Akron’s urban development and the emergence of ethnic neighborhoods, and eventual neighborhood disinvestment. These decisions from a bygone era are still visible in the post prosperity landscapes, lived daily, and perpetuate structural racism. Current and retired workers and labor activists shared their stories about the struggle for the dignity of work and racial and gender equality in the workplace. Academics addressed the prolonged economic, social, and cultural traumas of deindustrialization.

Untold Futures Panel
April 11, 2019

Moderated by Jennifer Vanderpool

Kimberly A. Irvin-Lee
Minority Business Assistance Center
Akron Urban League
Dr. Bill Lyons
Associate Dean, Buchtel College of Arts and Sciences
Professor and Director of Center for Conflict Management
University of Akron
Sean T. Posey
Historian, Writer, and Photographer
Youngstown, Ohio
Jason Segedy
Assistant to the Mayor
Director of Planning and Urban Development
City of Akron