Oral Histories Help Jake Sankal Reconstruct the
Transformation of a Cleveland Neighborhood

Jake Sankal is too young to remember the racial conflict that scarred one Cleveland neighborhood more than 40 years ago, but because so many who lived through that turmoil migrated to the suburb where he grew up, he felt a connection and wanted to learn more.

“A lot of my friends’ parents came from Collinwood, where the incidents took place,” says Sankal, a senior history major with a minor in studio art. “The more I heard them talk about their experiences, the more interested I became in what happened and why.”

This provided Sankal with the perfect topic for his Senior Independent Study project (Wooster’s nationally acclaimed senior capstone project, which matches a student with a faculty member in a yearlong research project that culminates in a graduate-level thesis, performance, or exhibition). Informal conversations led to more formal oral histories as Sankal became increasingly intrigued by the economic problems of Collinwood and the conflicts that rocked the area in the 1960s and 1970s, such as the racially-charged fistfights that closed Collinwood High School in the spring of 1965.

“Like all good history research, Jake started with some excellent questions, questions about what happened to the neighborhood of Collinwood,” says Greg Shaya, assistant professor of history at Wooster and Sankal’s advisor for the project. “He started interviewing people, beginning with friends, then friends of friends, and then expanding his network to include Collinwood residents. It was a very good example of how to conduct oral history.”

The interviews, combined with newspaper accounts of the events, enabled Sankal to piece together the back story to the confrontation between black and white students at Collinwood High School. There had been an undercurrent of racial unrest for years in Collinwood.  The white-ethnic neighborhoods to the south and east of the high school were considered off-limits to African Americans. Black students from Glenville attended classes at Collinwood High, but they were separated from white students until the 1964-65 school year. And behind this story of racial tension was the story of economic decline.  As industrial jobs moved out of Collinwood, residents moved as well.  Collinwood, which was 99 percent white in 1950, became an integrated neighborhood, and it was not an easy transition.

Through word of mouth, Sankal expanded his network of people who were there, and to his surprise everyone he contacted was willing to be interviewed. “No one refused to talk about it,” says Sankal, who was able to develop a composite picture of what happened and how it affected the neighborhood. “I think people wanted to open up after all this time.”

The process of gathering information and interviewing individuals was a valuable part of the learning process for Sankal, a resident of Mentor, and a standout with the Scot baseball team as well as a member of Every Woman’s House volunteer program house, which was featured in a Sports Illustrated article last December. “I learned a lot about time management and the importance of aggressively pursuing a potential source,” he says.

One of his primary sources has been a high-profile member of the neighborhood. Cleveland City Councilman Michael Polensek is working hard to restore Collinwood, in part, because he grew up there. “He has been very helpful in providing information,” says Sankal. “He has seen a lot of the changes that have taken place.”

Through his research, Sankal concluded that the decline of the Collinwood neighborhood had begun in the 1950s and peaked with the riots of the mid-1960s,but he also noted that subsequent decades brought about continued deterioration. In the 1980s, drugs, crime, and worsening economic conditions brought Collinwood to its knees.

“I think Jake’s I.S. is very strong,” says Shaya. “It’s rich, deep, and nuanced. It has a point that is a very relevant one. He has written another chapter in the tragedy of the American city, where economic distress and racial conflict have devastated whole neighborhoods.”

As for Sankal’s future, he’s considering several options. He may decide to become a teacher, but he also has an interest in exercise physiology and nutrition, and may become a trainer. Whatever he finally decides, Sankal believes that his I.S. experience will be a major asset.