The fourth marker on the Cleveland Civil Rights Trail will be unveiled this Saturday, April 29, at Glenville High School’s 10th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarship Program.

Glenville High School was chosen as a location on the trail, in part for King’s “Rise Up” speech he gave at the school on April 26,1967.

The speech targeted the students in the audience—encouraging them to help register their parents for the upcoming mayoral election in which state representative and lawyer Carl Stokes was running to become the first Black mayor of a major U.S. city. Stokes was elected mayor of Cleveland that November.

In October 2019, Cleveland Restoration Society (CRS) received $50,000 from the National Park Service for its project “In Their Footsteps: Developing an African American Civil Rights Trail in Cleveland, OH.”

The Cleveland Civil Rights Trail will ultimately have 10 historic markers.  Three markers have been installed to date: at Cory United Methodist Church, Cleveland City Hall honoring Stokes and, in the Ludlow neighborhood at Corby and Hampton Roads. Glenville High School is the fourth installation site.

Saturday’s program will feature a replay of Dr. King’s 1967 speech urging young people to get involved in the Civil Rights movement. In his message, Dr. King called on young people to develop a deep understanding of their “somebodiness” and to give their time and energy in community action. 

CRS president Kathleen Crowther has been named honored guest for the 2023 program.

Hosiah Huggins, who grew up in the Glenville neighborhood in the 1960s and is now a leadership coach and consultant based in Washington D.C., with offices in Cleveland, heeded the call of Dr. King in 1967 and is the keynote speaker for the scholarship program. Huggins’ message will center on the Tree of Life.

Glenville High School principal Latonia Davis is the lead event organizer. The event is sponsored by the Glenville Alumni Association and Glenville Parent Organization. Admission is free, but donations are welcome.