1 minute read
110 YEARS OF THE EXPONENT
2023 marks the 110th year that The Exponent has informed the Baldwin Wallace University and Berea communities. In our recurring series, we highlight the rich history of the Berea Community's Paper of Record.
By AUSTIN PATTERSON and JUSTIN MCMULLEN Photography Editor and Executive Editor
Advertisement
1956
George L. Forbes, pictured top line second from right, became the first Black member of The Exponent’s staff in 1956. Forbes went on to become a towering — if controversial — figure in Cleveland politics, having served as president of the Cleveland City Council as the city recovered from default from 1974-1989 and president of the Cleveland National Association for the Advancement of Colored People from 1992-2012. “When the history of this city is written a generation from now, George Forbes will loom as the one man who kept it from sinking," political lawyer John Climaco told Cleveland Magazine in 2008.
1970
On Feb. 23, 1970, a special edition of The Exponent was printed to draw attention to a gathering where Black Baldwin Wallace students spoke with their peers on the issue of racism on campus. In response to an incident in which a poster advertising a Black Alliance event about Malcom X was vandalized, Black students called for evening classes to be canceled so that all members of the BW community could attend the address. The program, according to an editorial featured in the Feb. 23 edition, entailed “free and open discussion between the white and Black community.” The following is an excerpt from that editorial:
