"We all came here tied to steel," said Tracey Winbush, event coordinator for Youngstown's Black History 2025: Present, Past and Future.

So it stands to reason that the Youngstown Museum of History and Labor should host such an event.

"This is cultural history," Winbush said. As she walked us through the 'walking exhibit', the conversation centered on some of the raw truths behind that history.

"A lot of people came up here because they didn't want to be part of the segregated South," she explained. "Ignorance travels. It doesn't stay local, and we still see ignorance today even though it's spread out."

From those harsh truths came resilience.
YSU student Leah Sydney captured that resilience in an art display honoring the first African American studies professor at YSU.
It provided the backdrop for a conversation about the pushback against diversity and inclusions initiatives in America over the last year.

"Despite who acknowledges us who we are as a people, I'd say keep pressing on," said Sydney. "Us as a community are so strong and I think we should keep that in our community and continue to stick together as people."

Winbush quickly agreed.

"It's we the people. We are the power. But you have to know how to wield the power that you've given us, but they don't teach it to us so that you can wield it."

A timeless lesson from Black history that we all could stand to learn.