I was reminded of Al Bright about a year ago when reading Isabel Wilkerson’s Caste. In the book she tells the story of a city championship Little League team that celebrated with a picnic and swimming outing at one of Youngstown’s pools. One member of that team was Black. He had to remain outside the fence, with teammates bringing him food. They couldn’t bring him the pool. After parents argued with the pool management, the boy was allowed to sit in a raft to be pulled around the pool by a lifeguard. For a few minutes. Everyone else had to exit the pool. The lifeguard whispered to him, “Whatever you do, don’t touch the water.” That Black Little Leaguer was Al Bright. The year was 1951. (Source: Sydney Morning Herald).
That was racism in Youngstown in 1951. That would have discouraged many others. Not Bright. The picture above is from a 50 year old news story in The Vindicator on August 15, 1971, noting that Bright was going to be the featured speaker at the National Junior Achievers Conference and was going to be awarded Speaker of the Year Award. The article also notes that he had joined Junior Achievers in 1958, was president of the chapter in 1959, and won the Achievers of the Year Award that same year. At the national conference in 1959, he was persuaded by the president of Colgate-Palmolive, S. Bayard Colgate, to go to college instead of barber school. He won a scholarship at Youngstown University and graduated in 1964 with a Bachelor of Science. A year later, he added a Master of Arts in painting from Kent State.
He taught art and painting at Youngstown after graduation. Louis Zona, executive director of the Butler was one of his students! Then, in 1970, he established the Black Studies program at Youngstown State and directed it for 18 years. He was the first full-time Black faculty member at Youngstown. During this time, he hosted Alex Haley, Jesse Jackson, Maya Angelou, and Shirley Chisholm at the university. Marvin Haire, one of Bright’s first students in the program, wrote:
“[The black studies program] sought to infuse the systematic study of African people into university curriculum and do that in a way that provided exposure to a wide range of what we would call the black experience, including music, art, history, politics and education. So the original vision was to build a program that offered that kind global awareness to students who took courses.”
He never stopped painting and his works are part of permanent collections at The Butler Institute of American Art, the Kent State University Gallery, the Harmon and Harriet Kelly Collection of African-American Art, Canton Museum of Art. Roanoke Museum of Fine Arts and Northeastern University. He exhibited his art in more than 100 solo exhibitions over his career. In 2012, he painted “Portals in Time” to a live jazz performance at the Akron Art Museum.
He was awarded the the Distinguished Teaching Award from YSU in 2006. He died October 28, 2019 at age 79. For my last two years at Youngstown State, I worked in the Student Development Program. Bright spoke for the program regularly and helped open the eyes of this white guy from the Westside to the beauty of black culture and the outlines of black history. I was struck that I never was diminished in my own racial identity but enlarged in my appreciation of the culture and history of Blacks in Youngstown. He built bridges with people rather than walls. He could have been bitter. Instead, he was better, as a program founder, an artist, as a mentor to younger Black leaders. He was born and died in Youngstown. His life was a gift to the city.
To read other posts in the Growing Up in Working Class Youngstown series, just click “On Youngstown.” Enjoy!
Bob on Books 
I HAD HIM FOR A BLACK STUDIES COURSE. HE EPITOMIZED CLASS!
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You confirm everything I knew and read of him.
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Well said, Bob. The swimming pool story is heartbreaking, and cheers to Al Bright all the way along!
You do a great job with your blog.
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Thanks for reading and taking time to write!
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Wonderful human being. So very talented
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Amazing what many in the black community had to endure. Thanks again for wonderful story.
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Thanks for reading and taking time to jot a note!
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Had Al Bright for Art at YSU in the 80s. He was a fantastic teacher. He also taught two of my sons there. He was an amazing artist and educator.
On a separate issue, pools were likewise segregated for whites. Grew up on nothside on Wirt St. and could see John Chase pool, but we were not allowed in; it was not for white children. Hard for a child to understand on a hot summer day as you heard splashes and happy voices. It was,however, a first-hand lesson on the cruelty of being segregated.
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Thanks for these comments!
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Sorry, but this isn’t true. My grandmother and great grandmother lived in Westlake Terrace in the late 50s and6 60s then known as the projects on Wirt Street where I visited there often. The projects at that time were racially intergrated and Black kids, Puerto Rican and white kids swam at Chase Pool. Some white kids from the projects walked to Northside Pool on Belmont which was not welcoming to African Americans. If white kids did not swim at Chase it was because their parents didn’t want race mixing not because they were officially prohibited from doing so.
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There was a period when other city pools were segregated. I appreciate your background on Chase Pool, which was not the pool in question in the article. Thanks for writing!
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The pool in question was the one at Idora Park which was segregated and the reason my mother took us to the Park only once a year and then under duress. She said the pool was converted to Kiddieland to avoid integration so Al Bright’s experience rings very true. Chase Pool was not segregated during the early 1960s when I attended but we were aware that because some white parents living in the projects didn’t want their kids swimming with black and Puerto Rican children those kids walked to Northside Pool..
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I also recall having Al Bright at YSU. What prompted me to reply was my grandfather lived on Norwood Ave near Wirt Street. My father was born there in 1917. It was one of those steel mill houses. Raised 7 kids there. 3 dory and a dirt floor basement. Big front porch. I wish I knew the address.
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Thanks for writing, Lauren!
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it would be nice if some of his work could be shown at Butler, maybe under local artists?
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There are works in the permanent collection. They may not be on display. You might check with a curator, then contact the director.
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thankyou
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Thanks for a wonderful commentary on a special and talented man. I was not a student of Al’s and knew him in a personal way. My boyfriend was his student and friend in 1963 and 64. We spent some very special times with Al and his lovely wife, both in their home and out in some of the clubs around Youngstown. I graduated from YSU in 1964 and have many wonderful memories but among the best were the times spent getting to know Al Bright. He was a “bright” light in so many lives and will be remembered through the genius of his work and his amazing character.
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Thank you for adding your story about Al Bright!
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I agree that the pool story experienced by Mr. Bright is heart breaking. I’m white and spent a lot of time at Borts pool. I went to Chase pool once with one of my friends from our Westside neighborhood who was black. I had a nice time on a hot summer day. Just kids being kids. This was probably in the early 60’s.
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I read this story in Ms. Wilkerson’s book and it struck me so hard that I wrote a song about it, called “Rubber Raft.” It’ll be part of my upcoming album, but here is the song for those who care to give it a listen: https://soundcloud.com/user-649836442/01-rubber-raft
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Hey, this is good Youngstown rock ‘n roll telling an important story. “Rubber raft” is a good hook. Thanks for sharing.
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