Staff photos / Andy Gray Josh West, of Youngstown, looks at vintage Youngstown Vindicator articles chronicling the Mahoning Valley’s African-American community at the Public Library of Youngstown & Mahoning County’s main branch for its first African-American Read-In on Saturday.

YOUNGSTOWN — African -American literature and local history was the focus of the first African-American Read-In on Saturday at the main branch of the the Public Library of Youngstown & Mahoning County.

Randy Ebert, public services manager for the library, said they wanted to host more read-in events and decided to tie in with the National African American Read-In, which was started in 1990 by the black caucus of the National Council of Teachers of English. According to its website, the initiative has had more than 6 million participants worldwide.

“Having materials from diverse viewpoints and voices and making sure that everyone feels represented and seen, it just goes right along with our mission and values,” Ebert said.

The library had carts of books for adults and children written by prominent African-American authors, and the space was decorated with colorful posters featuring such writers as Alex Haley, Maya Angelou and Colson Whitehead. The library’s specialty services department also assembled old newspaper clippings focusing on African-American history in Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley.

Many of the visitors in the first hours of the event were scanning the old stories.

“I love all the local history, and there’s so many of us that are unaware of it,” said Pearlette Wigley of Youngstown. “It’s just fascinating to come here and see what Youngstonians have done.”

Wigley said Maya Angelou was her favorite African-American writer.

“She’s number one, but there are so many,” she said. “There’s just so much information out there that we’re just not utilizing. It’s unfortunate, because it’s important to all of us, not just African-Americans, but Americans in general. It’s all intertwined. Whether we want to be or not, we’re all connected.”

Josh West, who grew up in Warren but now lives in Youngstown, was fascinated by an old Vindicator story about how black men who worked in the steel mills often were assigned the most dangerous jobs. West grew up hearing those stories first hand from his grandfather, who lost a leg in a mill accident.

“When I saw that (story), I was just thinking about him and all that and a lot of other history stuff,” West said. “I was learning. That’s why I was glad I came to this.”

Lydia Robles, 11, of Struthers, participated in the Mahoning Valley Sojourn to the Past’s camp last summer and was looking through the cart of children’s books.

“I love to read, so the books really caught my attention,” she said. “And I thought all the news articles were really cool.”

While some came to the library specifically for the read-in, others were pleasantly surprised to see it was happening.

Tiffany Harris and Serenity Coby, who both grew up in Youngstown and now live in Cleveland, stopped in because they hadn’t been to the library since its expansion opened in 2022.

“I didn’t know any of this information,” Harris said. “It’s interesting to know the history of Youngstown, especially African-Americans, the things that they’ve done, the impact they’ve made and to know these little tidbits of information is really important.”