On April 3rd, 1974, a tornado touched down in Greene County.
In the years since much attention has been paid to the impact on Xenia. But the neighboring town of Wilberforce was also hit hard. That includes the town's two HBCUs, Central State and Wilberforce Universities.
The National Afro-American Museum and Cultural Center in Wilberforce is working with the Eichelberger Center for Community Voices at WYSO this spring to gather and broadcast oral histories of the disaster.
This interview is from John Gudgel, who was a high schooler in Yellow Springs when the tornado hit in 1974.
This interview has been edited for clarity.
The tornado
I was with the track team, and we were outside practicing, and we saw these ominous dark clouds to the south of us. I remember birds flying in funny directions. The sky turned dark, and the next thing we knew, there was probably the largest hail storm I had ever seen. The hailstones were so large that we immediately had to go inside the school, and you could hear the school being peppered with these hail stones.
That was right around 4:30 when the tornado was going through Xenia.
Shortly after that, we heard sirens. Sirens continuously throughout the afternoon and night, and we knew something terrible had happened.
Waiting for mom
My mother worked in Shorter Hall, the main building on the campus of Wilberforce.
Mom usually came home about five-thirty or six o'clock.
She didn't come home.
At seven thirty or eight, it gets dark.
Mom's not home.
8:30, 9:00, 9:30, 10:00, 10:30, and so on.
She's not home yet.
We still hear the sirens going through town down to Xenia. So we're on edge. We're sitting by the phone but also understand that telephone lines are down. We were a hot mess because we didn't know.
So close to midnight, we heard the car come through the driveway. And what's incredible was not only was she able to drive home, but that the car was not severely damaged.
Aftermath
That next day, she started talking about what happened.
She remembered going to the basement of Shorter Hall, where things were really quiet, and the tornado suddenly hit.
It sounded like a freight train, sounded like a roaring train. That's what she said. And she said there is a difference in the climate as it pertains to the air in the building, the pressure, and all that. She talked a lot about that, just the weirdness of it all.
I think it's probably about 2 or 3 weeks later that we had a chance to go to Wilberforce. But what struck me was the number of trees that had been uprooted, the absence of trees, and just seeing buildings leveled was mind-blowing. And so a lot of the Wilberforce I fondly remember was gone.
Recovery
One of the concerns, as it pertains to Wilberforce and Central State, was whether or not the federal government and the state would assist those institutions because they're HBCUs.
So, even though it was the 1970s, that was an immediate concern.
Will the Black folks be assisted and helped out?
So when I hear "The Xenia Tornado," I agree and understand that. But, you know, there were folks in Wilberforce that were severely impacted, and there were people that died in Wilberforce. We can't forget that.
My mom worked in the financial aid office. So, one of the concerns was whether we would be able to finish this year. Will some of the kids come back next fall to go to school?
With the buildings that remained on both the Wilberforce and Central State campuses, the two colleges worked together to share classroom spaces. And they were able to get it done.
I mean, you talk about the strength of HBCUs and the sense of community that was on full display with both Central State and Wilberforce to ensure that those kids could finish their education.
So there was a lot of sharing of facilities and even professors.
Kevin Lydy, Chelsea Cozad, and MacKenzie Snare from the Afro-American Museum and Cultural Center conducted the interview from this story.
