My name is Clenzo Fox, and I am a lifelong
resident of the Hilltop
Hilltop. I, uh, feel that there is something
special about
the Hilltop. Reverend Ashben was in the Ohio
at one time, so you can see the kind of person
he was, but I remember that these men and
these women were so
much concerned with the community that they
would not
permit the establishment of anything on a
segregated basis.
At times, because, it was between Belvedere
and
Wayne Avenue which was called Parks view at
one time.
Um, it was this small community of African
Americans.
It was a small group between those six streets
here.
We basically lived between Sullivan Ave and
100th.
and those blocks on the streets were just
a little patch.
Sometimes even though the Hilltop was integrated
in a sence
that, uh, we went to school with everyone
else
These were all integrated schools, or basically
back in the day
those days they called them white schools
with just a
few of us, but any attempt to build something
special
for that Americans that were resisted by the
Ellis Club
by the community. They were opposed to any
segregation.
They would probably be segregating ourselves.
This is a
form of separate but equal but there was that
strong
that we’re going to be that you're going
to go to
Highland Avenue. You're going to go to West
High
You're going to go to Midland park, you're
going to go
Westgate and later on, when the YMCA was built
on
the Hilltop there was men like Mr. Curtis,
and I can't
think of all the men that worked hard to see
that we
were included in all the activities at the
YMCA.
Um, so I think that that was a special history
there
that many don't know or don't realize.
They made a building of a small park for those
so called colored
colored kids back in those day.
No, you're going to go to Holden park. You're
going to
go to every park. You're going to participate
in those parks
and you're not going to segregate yourselves
and I consider
that as looking ahead. Mr. Slaughter
NNCP. Again, Reverend Ashben was the giant,
the 
person
who lead such a resistance to any type of
activities
how that was segregated. The Hilltop, now
we still, for a
a youngster at that time, I kind of resented
it because we
were swimming in the Cory, we were swimming
in the river,
and we didn't go to, ah, I can't think of
it, the Alley view
We didn't go to that swimming. That was considered
as
a private club, and so we couldn't swim there
so we swam
in the river, we swam in the Cory and some
of the kids were lost
lost because of that because of the fact there
were
no lifeguards around and swimming in the river
and
swimming in the Cory. Not a good thing, I
don't want my
kids now doing it. I did it, but I wouldn't
want them.
So, I kind of look back upon those at some
point as a
certain amount as a mixed blessing but looking
at it now
on understanding the context of what has happened
Uh, I understand why, and I understand that
these
men where ahead of their own times in a way
and
these women that provided leadership.
h th
