Correspondent photo / Sean Barron ... Veronica I. Dahlberg of Ashtabula-based HOLA Ohio, left, and Penny Wells of Boardman were inducted into the Ohio Civil Rights Commission’s Hall of Fame this week during an annual ceremony at the Statehouse in Columbus.

COLUMBUS — Even though she took home a whole prestigious award for her civil rights and community work, Penny Wells symbolically has given a piece of it to each of those she feels is equally worthy of it.

“I am truly accepting this honor for all the amazing young people in the Mahoning Valley who have made a difference in their schools and community after taking the Sojourn to the Past journey to the South,” Wells, the Mahoning Valley Sojourn to the Past organization’s executive director, said.

Wells made her remarks just before she and seven others were inducted into the Ohio Civil Rights Commission’s Hall of Fame during the 14th annual OCRC Hall of Fame program Thursday in the Statehouse atrium.

Sharing the honor with Wells, of Boardman, was Veronica I. Dahlberg, founder and executive director of Ashtabula-based HOLA Ohio, an advocacy organization for Latinos, immigrants and farm workers that has done work in the Valley.

The two women joined six other inductees, five of whom are deceased and were honored posthumously. Family members and spouses accepted the award on their behalf.

The OCRC’s Hall of Fame, launched in 2009, seeks to acknowledge and honor outstanding Ohioans who are pioneers in civil and human rights and who have furthered the goals of inclusion and equality. In addition, inductees have made significant contributions toward supporting civil rights and cultural awareness, as well as promoting a greater understanding of the importance of working for a more just society, the OCRC’s website shows.

Madonna Chism Pinkard, WFMJ-TV 21’s director of community relations, nominated Wells, a former longtime history teacher in the Youngstown City Schools. Chism Pinkard also was one of Wells’ students.

Wells told an audience of more than 150 family members, friends and others that her foray into civil rights and social justice began when she was a student at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. Her two largest role models were her mother, Danna Whorton — someone she recalled “met people where they were without judgment, and was loved by many” — and the late civil rights icon and Georgia congressman John Lewis.

Wells also shared part of the influence Lewis has exerted on her via reading excerpts from his 1999 bestselling book, “Walking with the Wind.” In it, Lewis describes what he coined “the spirit of history,” an intangible guiding force that directs people to do what is right and is devoid of ego and self-gratification.

“He was steeped in the (six) principles of nonviolence, never judging the person but the action, never focusing on the limelight; in fact, often in pictures, he was in the second row or on the side, never losing hope, never being a silent witness and always having the courage to stand up for what he believed was right and just,” she said.

As applied to her, Wells added that she is convinced God is her “spirit of history” because he has directed and guided her work, in part by placing others in her life to assist her efforts.

Last month, Wells traveled to Birmingham, Alabama, to attend the somber commemoration ceremony in the 16th Street Baptist Church to remember the 60th anniversary of the Sept. 15, 1963, church bombing that killed four girls and injured more than 20 others.

“At the end of the program, we held hands and sang together, ‘We Shall Overcome.’ All I could think of was the children a few months before the bombing, who sat in that same church, sang freedom songs then walked out of the church to face fire hoses and vicious dogs, and as I sang, I was overcome with emotion,” she said, referring to the May 1963 Children’s March to desegregate the city. “My soul and my feet were ready to get moving and march.”

DAHLBERG’S HONOR

Also grateful to have been inducted was Dahlberg, who founded the nonprofit HOLA Ohio organization in 1999, aimed at bettering educational and employment opportunities for Ohio immigrants and farm workers. Her parents were immigrants who knew no English when they arrived in the state, she remembered.

Dahlberg also recalled a trip she took about 30 years ago to Virginia, while she was in college, and seeing thousands of immigrants in labor camps. What was supposed to be a two-week experience turned out to be eight months largely because “I was so moved by what I saw,” which included many workers being abused, exploited and forced to work in oppressive conditions that, in some cases, resulted in heat stroke.

“I thought, ‘Am I in the United States?'” she said.

The longtime advocate later became privy to similar conditions that such workers in Ohio faced. Many local residents and others knew about the situation but were too frightened to take a stand, she remembered. Dahlberg added that those workers often toiled in the fields from sunup to sundown and had neither health care benefits nor voting rights.

Eventually, she “stood up and spoke out” and organized on the workers’ behalf. In May 2022, HOLA Ohio established a Hispanic Community Center in Painesville.

The event’s keynote speaker was Bishop Timothy J. Clarke, senior pastor of First Church of God in Columbus and a 2022 inductee.

“You don’t get into the Hall of Fame unless you’ve done something bold and audacious,” Clarke said while praising this year’s inductees for doing their parts to provide illumination in place of darkness, offer hope in the midst of despair and take action to right injustices in a world filled with sadness and hatred.

“Evil will triumph when good people do nothing,” the bishop added.

For her part, the decades-long journey along the parallel paths of civil rights and social justice continues to enrich her life largely because of the young people the work has brought to her, as well as the example her mother set for her, Wells said.

“Ecclesiastes 11:1 says to cast your bread upon the waters and you will receive blessings,” she said, adding: “I heard my mom say frequently, she cast her bread upon the waters and it returned with butter and honey. I believe that is also true for me.”

The gathering also featured several musical selections, including from band members with the Ohio State School for the Blind in Columbus.

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