Introduction | West Side Neighbors | Dr. Juliet Saltman | National Neighbors | Conclusion
National Neighbors
Another organization related to West Side Neighbors, Inc. Records is National Neighbors (NN). This organization first formed in 1970 as a group of like-minded interracial neighborhoods and neighborhood organizations across the United States., with a goal of fostering and encouraging integrated neighborhoods. NN had several Northeast Ohio connections, which likely contributed to WSN’s early involvement in NN.
Joseph Battle, a Black real estate agent in Cleveland was a co-founder of NN and served as president of the organization. Other neighborhood organizations throughout Ohio and other parts of the U.S. were also early members of NN, including the Ludlow Community Association in Shaker Heights, a Cleveland suburb.
In 1975, WSN hosted the National Neighbors Great Lakes Regional Conference in Akron. Saltman coordinated the three-day conference, which included workshops and panel sessions. A key point from the conference was how crucial quality desegregated education is to maintaining neighborhood stabilization.1
Published proceedings from the conference can be found in the West Side Neighbors, Inc. Records. A bound copy is also available at Bierce Library.
By 1990, NN had changed its name to the National Federation for Neighborhood Diversity. There is not much information available about the organization’s history, and further research is needed.2
The West Side Neighbors, Inc. Records at The University of Akron Archives and Special Collections contain some materials relating to National Neighbors. This includes NN newsletters, meeting minutes, and various materials from the 1975 Great Lakes Regional Conference in Akron.
This exhibition was created in Fall 2024 by Melanie Mohler as part of her capstone project for the MA in the Applied History and Public Humanities program at The University of Akron.
If you would like to consult the West Side Neighbors, Inc. Records for research and study, please schedule an appointment to visit The University of Akron Archives and Special Collections.
Do you have information you can share about the West Side Neighbors, or any of the other people or organizations represented in this digital exhibition? If so, please contact The University of Akron Archives and Special Collections at 330-972-7670 or archives@uakron.edu.
- Integrated Neighborhoods in Action: Proceeding of the 1975 National Neighbors Great Lakes Regional Conference, ed. Juliet Saltman. (Canton, Ohio)., i-iv. ↩︎
- “National Neighbors, Inc. Records”, Amistad Research Center, accessed December 11, 2024, https://amistad-finding-aids.tulane.edu/repositories/2/resources/708 ↩︎