Knox County, Ohio has been home to Black residents from the earliest days of settlement of the region by non-indigenous persons. As a consequence of their small numbers, the history of Black folks of the area was largely over-looked, if not outright ignored, by the mainstream press, academicians, and local historians. Although living and working closely with their White neighbors, the Black community, forced by custom and convention and inspired by other “colored” people living in communities both large and small, built parallel, albeit segregated, institutions to meet their social, economic, and spiritual needs. The establishment of these archives was intended to open a window into the fascinating world of African American life and experience in rural Ohio as well as advance the reclamation of the proud histories of the invisible people who occupied “the community within.”