LYCEUM:The Cuyahoga River Fire and Cleveland’s Urban Crisis

In 1969, the Cuyahoga River caught fire, drawing the nation’s attention to the environmental crisis in Cleveland. At the time, Mayor Carl Stokes was worried about other crises that plagued his city: poverty, racism, housing. In this talk, historian David Stradling will discuss the city’s conflicted relationship with one of its iconic historical events, while asking why the recovery of the Cuyahoga River and the revival of neighborhoods along its shores contrasts so sharply with the persistence of the city’s racial and economic divide.