Finding aid for the The Opie Evans Papers

Biography of Opie Evans

Opie Evans, a local African-American photographer, reporter, broadcaster, publisher, and businessman, was born in Montgomery, Alabama in 1906. Considered a modern-day Renaissance man and a self-made man, he came to Akron when he was eleven and immediately began working by selling newspapers to supplement his family’s income. From the time he arrived he became interested in photography and wanted to pursue a career in the media. At the age of 14, he bought his first camera and film and the rest was history. Evans attended Akron Public Schools and took courses in radio and television at The University of Akron. Shortly after dropping out of high school and an unsuccessful business venture in Detroit, he become a door-to-door salesman in Akron and later opened a small job printing shop on North Howard Street. In 1938, Evans went to work as a janitor at the Firestone Tire & Rubber Company and eventually worked his way up to the head of the company’s photography and motion picture department, the first African American to hold this position. After World War II, Evans left Firestone to go into business for himself running a sound equipment company and construction business, building and buying homes to provide affordable housing to members of his race. He also converted an old bus into a mobile concession stand known as “The Dreamboat,” which was extremely successful. In 1955, he became the first African-American projectionist and stagehand in the city when he worked at the Ritz Theater. A strong civil rights advocate, Evans served for several years as a special assistant to Akron Mayor John Ballard and as Executive Director of the Mayor’s Advisory Council of Civic Unity. He also served as editor of the second Negro Yearbook and published African-American newspapers including the Akron Vindicator and the Akronite, for which he took many photographs of the city’s African-American community. Evans was deeply involved in radio and television for more than 30 years. His first broadcast experience began in the 1940s with a local radio program. He is recognized as the first African-American to read commercials on an Akron radio station and is credited with filming the first news televised in Akron. Evans presented the news about Akron’s African Americans on his weekly television show, “Highlights in Brown,” and became the first African American to produce a regular television program, “This is Akron with Opie Evans.” In 1984, Opie Evans became one of the first two African Americans to be inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame. He received more than 20 awards for his involvement in the community and work in radio and television, including Man of the Year from the NAACP. He also had a day and a week named after him in the City of Akron and was known for his work with senior citizens and youth as well as for AIDS education. Evans married Thelma Henderson of Akron in 1936 and had two twin sons, Marvin and Mervin, and a daughter, Loweeta, before divorcing. He later remarried and lived with his second wife, Beatrice, and his faithful dog, Dusty. Evans passed away in 2000. As local senior citizens exclaimed upon his passing, “Thank God for Opie Evans. And May God send others to follow and help carry on the work he started.”

Scope and Content

The Opie Evans Papers contain correspondence, personal papers, writings, printed material, photographs, artifacts, and sound and video recordings. The range of the collection is 1943-1999. The bulk of the correspondence, writings, and printed material is from the 1960s to the early 1970s. The bulk of the photographic prints are from the 1960s, and the bulk of the photographic negatives are from the late 1940s and early 1950s. Photographic material includes images of politicians and political events, social clubs and gatherings, sporting events and musical performances, and construction projects, among others. Of note is the sub-series of correspondence from Evans’ work with Akron mayors, specifically John Ballard during the years 1967-1969. This is when Evans was the Executive Director of the Mayor’s Advisory Council of Civic Unity, a position created in the 1940s to promote racial harmony within the City of Akron. These letters give insight into the concerns of the Black community during a period of intense national unrest. Other notable correspondents include University of Akron president Dominic Guzzetta, mayors Leo Berg and Roy Ray, and Akron Metropolitan Housing Authority director Jack Saferstein. Also of note is the complete run of weekly Akronite newspapers published by Evans in 1963 and 1964, which give insight into the goings-on in the Black community in Akron in the early 1960s and the local and national news that was of import to that community. The “Government and Politics” folders in Series VIII: Photographic Materials contain unique images of notable local and national political figures such as Councilman Ed Davis, Judge James Barbuto, Mayors Edward Erickson and John Ballard, Vice-President Hubert Humphrey, and President Lyndon Johnson. There is also a folder containing images of the 1965 Selma Sympathy March. The Negatives sub-series contains images of boxers and professional wrestlers who appeared at the Akron Armory in the late 1940s and early ‘50s.

Series Description

Restrictions on Use

Copyright restrictions may apply. Permission to reproduce or publish materials in this collection must be secured in writing from Archival Services, University Libraries, The University of Akron.

Restrictions on Access

No restrictions on access; except not available through interlibrary loan. Copyright restrictions may apply. Permission to reproduce or publish materials in this collection must be secured in writing from Archival Services, University Libraries, The University of Akron.

City of Akron, Office of the Mayor, John S. Ballard Records, 1966-1979 Horace Stewart Collection

Indexing Terms

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.

Subjects:

Preferred Citation

[Identification of Item], Opie Evans Papers, Archival Services, University Libraries, The University of Akron, Akron, Ohio.

Provenance

The papers were purchased from Opie Evans’ second wife, Beatrice “Bea” Evans, December 13, 2000.

Processing Information

Processed by Theodore Mallison, Special Projects Processing Archivist, 2018

Detailed Description of The Collection