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WARREN -- City resident Dorothy Morgan said she remembers growing up in the city in the 1940s to 1960s.
"Times were hard for many people, but we got something out of life," Morgan said.
Morgan was among 17 local African-Americans interviewed about their memories and stories for the Trumbull County Historical Society's Voices of Oral History Project.
Morgan said she was honored to be among those interviewed.
"I remember walking to school with my friends and always hated it when it rained because all the worms would come out," she said.
Morgan said she saw many changes in Warren.
"The younger generation does not always get what we had to go through to help them get where they are today," Morgan said.
For three hours on Feb. 29 -- the last day of Black History Month -- some of the interviews were shown to the public at a preview event.
Sarah Moell, education outreach manager for the historical society, said the first part of the project will be released to the society's website in April, with the project ongoing.
"We will continue to add to it. We have interviewed 17 people age 70 and older and would like to have 25 for the first segment. They share their stories of what life was like for them in Warren as children, teens and adults," Moell said.
She said after April, they will expand to other age groups for interviews, as well as people throughout Trumbull County for the preservation project.
Moell said through the interviews, she learned a lot about the lives of people during the steel mill era.
While interviews were more than one hour, each segment and topic will be narrowed down to five to 10 minutes. Topics include schools, sports, civil rights and work.
"The goal of the program is to record the histories. The oral histories will be an educational resource available to the public for those who want to use it for research or just to listen," Moell said.
Fred Harris, a member of the project steering committee for the society and retired Warren safety service director, said, "I tell people when an elderly black person dies, it is the same as a library burning down. We can never get history back."
He said while many Jewish people were able to record their histories, blacks "never had the true story told" because they could not document their histories.
Harris said he was taught U.S. history in school but not world history, which left out a lot of history of African Americans.
"That is why this project is so important. These elderly black people will provide stories that will last forever. It is a history of what happened right here in Warren. I remember going to the Robins Theatre as a teen and the black children had to sit in the balcony and the white children on the main floor. When I speak to younger people, they do not have any idea things like that took place here," he said.
Harris said he remembers when they were not allowed to drink from a fountain at Courthouse Square. He said the restrooms also were segregated in the 1940s to early 1960s.
Cheryl Saffold, an interviewer for the project and current city councilwoman, said, "It was very rewarding and captivating for me to interview people and hear their stories."
Saffold said many told hold her African-Americans had to live in the Flats part of the city, which had a lot of flooding problems.
She said her father, Robert, was a trailblazer -- the first African-American firefighter in the city of Warren in 1961.
"Hearing these stories it really makes you appreciate the struggles and victories that African Americans have achieved," Saffold said.
bcoupland@tribtoday.com