By Regennia N. Williams, PhD
(Cleveland Press Collection, ClevelandMemory.org, Michael Schwartz Library, Cleveland State University)
By Regennia N. Williams, PhD
On this day, I joined hundreds of other Clevelanders in celebrating the life and legacy of Judge Sara J. Harper, Black Christian daughter, sister, wife, mother, grandmother, attorney, public servant, and so much more. Other judges, elected officials, religious leaders, relatives, and friends have already shared so many incredibly moving tributes and precious memories that I could not possibly include them all here. I will, however, share a few of my own special memories about her graciousness to both me and RASHAD’s “Praying Grounds: African American Faith Communities, a Documentary and Oral History” Project.
As a graduate student in the 1990s, I reached out to Judge Harper, an alumna of the Cleveland Public Schools, for advice on how best to go about identifying oral history narrators for my doctoral dissertation, “Equity and Efficiency: African American Leadership and Education Reform in Cleveland, Ohio: 1915-1940.” After Judge Harper gave so generously of her time — and information from her personal telephone book and rolodex, I began the work that proved to be invaluable over the course of more than a quarter-century of teaching at the post-secondary level, conducting research, and writing for scholarly publications.
In the first decade of the 21st-century, both Judge Harper and her husband, Judge George Trumbo, agreed to be interviewed for the Praying Grounds Oral History Project . In 2014, I also had the pleasure of co-hosting a special 88th Birthday Tribute for Judge Sara Harper at the public housing project where she spent part of her childhood. Today, the life stories of Judge Harper and Judge Trumbo are housed in Special Collections at Cleveland State University’s Michael Schwartz Library–along with print and digital copies of the illustrated story on the aforementioned birthday tribute in the Traditions & Beliefs Newsletter. I am sharing two pages from the newsletter (below), and here is the link to the entire publication: https://www.clevelandmemory.org/pray/traditions/fall2014.pdf.
She lived a wonderful, purpose-driven life, and I am grateful for the significant impact Judge Sara J. Harper has made on American history and culture. Her legacy will undoubtedly inspire future generations for years to come.
The RASHAD Center, Inc. 