Black-owned businesses thrive in Yellow Springs

Owner and operator of Posterior Chain, LLC, Kyle Truitt monitors his mother, Valerie Blackwell-Truitt, as she powers through a set of leg lifts. (Photo by Reilly Dixon) “Those who have no record of what their forebears have accomplished lose the inspiration which comes from the teaching of biography and history.”—Carter G. Woodson Uplift Yellow Springs, a Facebook page that supports local businesses by posting their upcoming events and specials, recently put out a call for people to name local Black-owned businesses, in honor of Black History Month. Black-owned businesses have been contributing to the village’s  economy since the 1800s. One of the earliest businessmen in Yellow Springs was formerly enslaved landowner and philanthropist Wheeling Gaunt, at one time thought to be one of Ohio’s wealthiest Black men. According to a 2022 News article, “In decades past, a villager could walk through town and encounter a host of businesses owned by Black residents of Yellow Springs.” “Over the years, I think there have been upwards of 40 businesses,” villager Karen McKee said in the article. McKee, who died in 2022, grew up in the village during the 1960s and 1970s. Black History Month was originally conceived in 1926 as Negro History...