We the People: Black Heritage Library & Multicultural Center

FINDLAY, Ohio (WTVG) - As Black History Month begins, we take you to a place rooted in heritage, history and hope, spanning generations.

The artifacts inside are meaningful, but it is the impact on the community that truly defines the Black Heritage Library & Multicultural Center.

If you are driving in Findlay and turn onto Harmon Street, you could miss it. But as hidden as it may seem to some, the impact of this place has rung true for more than four decades. And there is a reason for that.

“We seek to be, as Dr. King said, part of the beloved community. And that’s what we try and strive for here in Findlay to make it like the beloved community, where everyone feels a part of what’s going on in the community and contributes towards that,” Jerome Gray, the executive director of the Black Heritage & Multicultural Center, said.

Gray said that this is a place of inclusion for anyone to visit, no matter what your heritage looks like.

“There really should be no black and white, because there is no difference as you look through the eyes, and the eyes are the window to the soul, to the spirit,” Gray said.

The soul and spirit is alive and well between the walls, highlighting our country’s greatest successes like the Tuskegee Airmen or inventors and activists, to showcasing some of the hardest truths like the slave trade and Jim Crow America.

“And America has had some dark periods, but we all grow from that. If you don’t learn from the past, as I said, we’re bound to repeat it,” Gray said.

And that is the whole reason for the Black Heritage Library & Multicultural Center. To educate, explore and empower anyone who walks through its doors.

Learning from our past, the rights and wrongs of our country and using the lessons learned to create a better one.

“Hopefully that someone comes here, they’re able to sit down, have a conversation, ask questions about anything that they see, and to be able to take something positive out of it when they leave,” Gray said.

As this month is a great time to visit and learn about Black heritage and other cultures, Gray wants you to know, “Every day is Black History Day.”

“Black history is American history. You can’t limit it to just one month out of the year, because it is part of the fabric of America,” Gray said.

When we learn and grow from our history, then we can truly prepare and build a better future.

“Fills you with pride to know that you are helping to educate the next generation or the past generation to come to an understanding,” Gray said.

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