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Weekend celebrations honor ‘Class of Champions,’ novel South End Black History Museum
Combined with hometown pride and his knack for local history, Greencastle native DeWayne Norris’ newest project, the South End Black History Museum, is ready for its grand opening.
The online museum, as well as the 55-year anniversary of Greencastle High School’s 1968 class, will be celebrated all weekend long with a potluck luncheon on Saturday and a music celebration this Sunday.
Norris graduated in what is known as the 1968 “Class of Champions” of Greencastle High School, where the football and basketball teams became league champions for the first time in the school’s history.
But while doing research during the pandemic, Norris realized himself and other Black athletes from GHS at the time were not recognized for their achievements. He began personally calling classmates to speak with them about their accomplishments and contributions to the Class of Champions for his research, and found that “there’s a lot of history there and I didn’t want to see it just disappear,” he said.
“We all not only excelled, but went to college, too, and we all graduated.”
Growing up on the South End, “there were not a whole lot of opportunities for Black folks in Greencastle,” he said. This caused most of his peers to move out of state, and eventually lose touch. Still, his mother ran a successful beauty parlor, and his uncle a barbecue restaurant, both of which were staples of the South End that will be celebrated in the museum.
Decades later, with a lasting spirit of community, Norris’ aunt Dorothy is contributing her yearbook collections, his son is designing the website and more contributions from afar are helping the museum come to life.
The museum will consist of an online series of “rooms” including the “Minaret Room” of digitized yearbooks from 1919 to 2000, the “Honors Room” of South End pioneers, college graduates, Black cheerleaders or homecoming queens, service workers and athletes, the “Audio Room” of 20+ year-old interviews with South End residents and a “Video Room” of archival photos, documents, certificates and businesses from the South End.
Overall, “in the museum there will be a list of every single Black (student) from Greencastle High School,” who has given Norris permission to share their names, he said.
Because of the outreach involved throughout the two years of hard work, Norris is ready to welcome classmates from all over the country whom he hasn’t seen in 55 years at this weekend’s festivities.
“One of the things that bothered me was that I kept coming home only for funerals. I want to come home for celebrations, so that’s why we have this event,” he said. “I’m excited to see everyone and to celebrate instead of it being a sad time.”
The luncheon is from 1-5 p.m. on Saturday, July 1 in the basement meeting room of The Inn at DePauw, and the music celebration featuring rapper Zachary Le’on, saxophonist Papa James Taylor and blues artist Tad Robinson will be from 1-6 p.m. in the Ballroom. Friends, family members, classmates and especially teammates from the 1966 championship basketball team, 1967 football team and 1968 golf team are invited to attend.
“The (museum’s) main goal is to be something that my great-great-grandkids can use to know about mom, my uncle and the histories that came out of Greencastle,” Norris said. “I want them to know about when we grew up.”