CELEBRATE
CELEBRATE BLACK HISTORY MONTH AND TONIGHT WE'RE TALKING ABOUT THE HILTOP NEIGHBORHOOD.
YEAH.
WHAT YOU MIGHT HEAR ABOUT THE
AREA TODAY BARELY SCRATCHES THE
SURFACE OF ITS INCREDIBLE
STORY.
TV'S MOLLY BREWER TAKES US
THERE BEHIND THE HEADLINES IN
THIS NEIGHBORHOOD.
YOU KNOW, YOU HAD A BOOMING
BLUE COLLAR NEIGHBORHOOD
FAMILIES EVERYTHING.
AND SO IT WAS JUST A JOY TO
LIVE UP HERE AT THAT TIME.
THAT'S THE VOICE OF WEST RED, A
HILTOP ICON GRADUATING FROM
WEST HIGH SCHOOL IN SEVENTY
FOUR AND FATHER OF FORMER
PROFESSIONAL BASKETBALL PLAYER
MICHAEL READ MUCH OF WEST REDS
45 YEARS ON THE HILTOP CENTERED
HERE WHERE BARKLEY BAPTIST
CHURCH PREVIOUSLY STOOD AND THE
ASHBURN YOUTH CENTER WAS BUILT.
EVERYBODY CAME THERE AFTER
SCHOOL TO LEARN ART BASKETBALL
SO WE HAD THOUSANDS OF KIDS
THAT WOULD MIGRATE RIGHT THERE.
IT WAS VERY CLOSE KNIT FAMILY
ON IT HILTOP UMBERELLA MY
FAMILY NOT ONLY BLOOD RELATIVES
BUT WE ALL KNEW EVERYONE.
IT WAS A VERY CLOSE KNIT
NEIGHBORHOOD.
BYRON POTTS KNOWS THE NOW
ATTORNEY ALSO GREW UP ON THE
HILTOP HIS FAMILY ONE OF THE
FIRST BLACK FAMILIES TO MOVE
THERE.
WE NEED TO GET BACK TO THAT
THOUGH.
THE NEIGHBORS KNOWING THE
NEIGHBORS AND AND DOING THE
THINGS THAT WE NEED TO DO TO
HAVE A FAMILY ATMOSPHERE SO
WE CAN CARE ABOUT OUR NEIGHBORS
AND THE CARE ABOUT OUR
NEIGHBORHOOD SO OFTEN NOW
THAT'S NOT WHAT YOU HEAR ABOUT
WHEN YOU HAVE PEOPLE WITH LOWER
INCOMES AND ECONOMIC PROBLEMS.
WHAT YOU HAVE IS YOU HAVE
PROBLEM WITH PEOPLE FIGHTING
OVER MONEY AND THAT BREEDS
VIOLENCE AND THOSE KIND OF
THINGS.
PEOPLE FEEL LIKE THEY'VE BEEN
FORGOTTEN.
AND THE THING IS WHEN PEOPLE
FEEL LIKE THEY'RE FORGOTTEN,
THEY GET IN TO SEE HOW WE GOT
HERE.
WE HAVE TO LOOK BACK.
THE HILTOP IS WELL KNOWN AS THE
GROUND WAR CAMP CHASE
ESTABLISHED IN THE 1861 CAMP
CHASE WAS FORMED AS A UNION
TRAINING CAMP FOR THE CIVIL WAR
AND LATER A UNION PRISONER FOR
CAMP SPARED BY ITS NAMESAKE THE
GREAT FLOOD OF 1913 DEVASTATED
SURROUNDING AREAS LIKE
FRANKLINTON SENDING MANY
FURTHER WEST TO THE HILTOP AND
THROUGHOUT THAT MIGRATION A
SOCIAL DIVIDE SEEN ACROSS THE
COUNTRY.
IT WAS SEGREGATED A LOT ON THE
HILTOP FOR FOUR YEARS AND WHAT
IT DID IS THAT SEGREGATION
BROUGHT US TOGETHER AS A FAMILY
BUT DOESN'T ALWAYS MAKE THE
HEADLINES AND MOM'S YOU HAVE
SOME PROMINENT PEOPLE TO DROP
IN AND START IT DOWN LIKE THREE
TIME GRAMMY AWARD WINNER NANCY
WILSON AND FOUR TIME OLYMPIC
GOLD MEDALIST TRACK STAR JESSE
OWENS WHO LIVED ON SOUTH OAKLEY
WHILE MAKING HISTORY AT THE
OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY.
LIVING LEGEND EDDIE MURPHY USED
HIS POETRY TO SPEAK HER MIND
WORKS WITH YOUTH TO KEEP THE
SPIRIT OF THE WEST SIDE ALIVE.
I SEE A COLUMN OF UMBERELLA FOR
THE WORLD TO SEE.
MURPHY GREW UP IN BURNSIDE, A
NEARBY BLACK COMMUNITY MADE UP
OF TWO UNPAVED ROADS AND A LOT
NEGATIVE THINGS.
WHAT THE WEST SAID IS REALLY
BUT BY THE TIME WESTLUND MALL
CLOSED FALLING SHORT OF THE
BRAND NEW TUTTLE MALL TO ITS
NORTH, THE NEIGHBORHOOD LOST A
LOT OF ITS STRAW REVOLUTION ALL
THE BUSINESSES THAT HAVE LEFT
HERE WE NEED AN INFLUX OF
BUSINESSES THAT SAY HEY, WE CAN
MAKE SOMETHING OUT OF THIS
NEIGHBORHOOD.
WELL, I WOULD LOVE TO SEE IS
PEOPLE DON'T WRITE THE HILTOP
OFF THE HILTOP RESILIENT AND I
BELIEVE THAT IF GIVEN A FAIR
OPPORTUNITY THEN IT'S GOING TO
MAKE A TREMENDOUS COMEBACK IN
COLUMBUS MULITPLE 20 MINUTES
THAT THE CITY OF COLUMBUS
INTRODUCED A NEW PLAN TO
REVITALIZE HILTOP NEIGHBORHOD
ABOUT A YEAR AGO.
YOU CAN READ PLANS FOR THE AREA
OVER A 10 TV.COM BLACK HISTORY
MONTH.
THAT'S WHERE