The National Afro-American Museum and Cultural Center is working in collaboration with WYSO Public Radio to gather oral histories commemorating the 50th anniversary of the 1974 tornadoes.
We want to tell the story of the community of Wilberforce, including Central State University and Wilberforce University.
While most of what we hear about the tornadoes revolves around its destruction, we are interested in what happened afterwards: the rebuilding, the efforts to get back on track, the collaboration to start the next chapter.
Were you or someone you know at Wilberforce at the time of the tornadoes? We want to hear your story. Contact infoNAAMCC@ohiohistory.org, call 937-376-4944 ext. 0 to get in touch or fill out the online questionnaire.
You can also join National Afro-American Museum and Cultural Center, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. March 23 for a day of scanning and preserving community member's photographs from when the tornado struck.
Join the museum at 1350 Brush Row Road, Wilberforce, for a community scanning day and help preserve this history when you bring your photographs of the area from before, during, and after the disaster.
The museum's preservation professionals will assist in scanning the images and make them available to the community and future generations through digital preservation.