Afternoons with Tee

Mount Zion Baptist Church Preservation Society board member Dr. Tee Ford-Ahmed looks on while explaining the history and significance of the church next to its cornerstone in Athens, Ohio Thursday April 20, 2023. According to Mount Zion Baptist Church Preservation Society, the church was built with funds and land contributed by Black hotelier Edward Berry, and served as a vital gathering spot for the Black community of Athens and Southeast Ohio from 1905 to 2000.

Stained glass windows are seen inside Mount Zion Baptist Church in Athens, Ohio Thursday April 20, 2023. According to Mount Zion Baptist Church Preservation Society, the church was built with funds and land contributed by Black hotelier Edward Berry, and served as a vital gathering spot for the Black community of Athens and Southeast Ohio from 1905 to 2000.

Retired school psychologist and Mount Zion Baptist Church Preservation Society's secretary Beth Amoriya touches the stained glass windows inside the church in Athens, Ohio Thursday April 20, 2023. According to Mount Zion Baptist Church Preservation Society, the church was built with funds and land contributed by Black hotelier Edward Berry, and served as a vital gathering spot for the Black community of Athens and Southeast Ohio from 1905 to 2000.

Dr. Tee Ford-Ahmed walks off with a container of weeds and grass while her friend and fellow Mount Zion Baptist Church Preservation Society member Dr. Susan Righi continues to mow the grass outside Mount Zion Baptist Church in Athens, Ohio, Thursday, April 20, 2023.

Dr. Tee Ford-Ahmed checks out the interior decor of O'Betty's Red Hot, a local restaurant that specializes in hot dogs, as she speaks to manager Tracy Duncan in Athens, Ohio, Wednesday, April 5, 2023. According to Mount Zion Baptist Church Preservation Society, O'Betty's Red Hot donated over $200, which makes up 50% of the proceed from the sale of their limited special "Mount Zion" hot dog to fundraise for the restoration of antique stained glass windows in Mount Zion Baptist Church.

The limited special "Mount Zion" hot dog is seen at O'Betty's Red Hot, a local restaurant that specializes in hot dogs, in Athens, Ohio, Wednesday, April 5, 2023. According to Mount Zion Baptist Church Preservation Society, O'Betty's Red Hot donated over $200, which makes up 50% of the proceed from the sale of the "Mount Zion" hot dogs to fundraise for the restoration of antique stained glass windows in Mount Zion Baptist Church.

Athens Mayor Steve Patterson and Dr. Tee Ford-Ahmed hug as they meet to discuss plans to restart Berry Day celebrations in Athens, Ohio, Friday, April 21, 2023. According to Ford-Ahmed, Berry Day was first held on May 23, 2004, to commemorate the life and socioeconomic contributions of successful Black entrepreneurs and hoteliers Edward and Mary Jane Berry. The event was subsequently not observed until 2023.

Athens Mayor Steve Patterson listens as Dr. Tee Ford-Ahmed explains her plan on restarting Berry Day celebrations in Athens, Ohio, Friday, April 21, 2023. According to Ford-Ahmed, Berry Day was first held on May 23, 2004, to commemorate the life and socioeconomic contributions of successful Black entrepreneurs and hoteliers Edward and Mary Jane Berry. The event was subsequently not observed until 2023.

Dr. Tee Ford-Ahmed reaches into a freezer while browsing frozen food items at Aldi supermarket in Athens, Ohio, Saturday April 15, 2023.

Dr. Tee Ford-Ahmed walks towards her car after passing her empty shopping cart to another shopper outside Aldi supermarket in Athens, Ohio, Saturday April 15, 2023.

Dr. Tee Ford-Ahmed hands Affrilachian artist Crystal Good a brochure narrating the history of noteworthy Black Americans that lived in Athens county at the Mount Zion Baptist Church Preservation Society's booth during AppalachiaFest in Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, Saturday March 18, 2023.

Dr. Tee Ford-Ahmed discusses the items sold at the booth of Mount Zion Baptist Church Preservation Society with members Dr. Susan Righi and Susan Gilfert during AppalachiaFest in Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, Saturday March 18, 2023.

Dr. Tee Ford-Ahmed holds a stack of postcards with the portraits of the late hoteliers and entrepreneurs Edward and Mary Jane Berry at Mount Zion Baptist Church Preservation Society's booth during AppalachiaFest in Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, Saturday March 18, 2023.

Dr. Tee Ford-Ahmed sneaks in extra sauce packets while picking up her lunch order at Avalanche Pizza in Athens, Ohio, Saturday March 18, 2023.

Dr. Tee Ford-Ahmed discusses the steps to registering the copyright to the "Black Wall Street Athens" documentary with the U.S. Copyright Office with fellow Mount Zion Baptist Church Preservation Society members Susan Gilfert and Dr. Susan Righi in her home in Athens, Ohio, Saturday March 18, 2023.

Dr. Tee Ford-Ahmed leans in on her kitchen countertop to listen to fellow Mount Zion Baptist Church Preservation Society member Dr. Susan Righi speak before attending a Zoom session after the screening of the "Black Wall Street Athens" documentary in West Virginia University, at her home in Athens, Ohio, Friday March 31, 2023.

Dr. Tee Ford-Ahmed listens to a student's question during a Zoom panel discussion after the screening of the "Black Wall Street Athens" documentary in West Virginia University, at her home in Athens, Ohio, Friday March 31, 2023.

A close-up view of "Time", a painting by artist Charles Bible that composes of the physical features of Dr. Tee Ford-Ahmed and her sisters, hangs in her dining room at her home in Athens, Ohio, Friday March 31, 2023. Ford-Ahmed used to shop occasionally at YardBird, a boutique that Bible and his wife owned on Divisadero Street in San Francisco, when the artist requested she sit down for a portrait he had wanted to work on that encompassed all the women of her family.

Dr. Tee Ford-Ahmed drives amid rain and windy weather conditions on the U.S. 33 between Lancaster and Columbus, Ohio, to pick up her grandson Demetri Wolfe from John Glenn International Airport, Wednesday April 5, 2023.

Dr. Tee Ford-Ahmed refuels her car at a Sunoco gas station in uptown Athens, Ohio Thursday April 20, 2023.

Dr. Tee Ford-Ahmed walks home with Lenny Massiel Cauich Maldonado, a journalism PhD candidate of Ohio University, after attending a potluck gathering with members of the newly created Women of Color Association (WOCA) in Athens, Ohio, Wednesday, April 12, 2023.

Dr. Trevellya “Tee” Ford-Ahmed, professor emerita of West Virginia State University, is a whirlwind figure in community advocacy in the Southeast Ohioan city of Athens. Through her tireless work as board member and communications director at the Mount Zion Baptist Church Preservation Society, she has helped raised awareness and appreciation of the deep history and contributions of the local Black community that had been forgotten in Appalachian Ohio. According to the Mount Zion Baptist Church Preservation Society, Athens and its surrounding region was nationally renown for Black community building, education (e.g. Albany Enterprise Academy), and entrepreneurship (e.g. Berry Hotel) in the early 1900s. However, most of the physical sites of these historic businesses and institutions have long faded to obscurity, with the exception of Mount Zion Baptist Church. The church last held service in late 2000 due to its dwindling aged congregation, and the building has since been in need of restoration.

In the course of this month-long project, done in part as the final assignment for an independent study with Prof. Stan Alost, I shadowed Dr. Tee and her compatriots (in the afternoons) as she endlessly worked to fundraise and rally support from the local community for the rehabilitation of the century-old stained glass windows of Mount Zion Baptist Church.