Fannie Allen was raised in rural Alabama in a sharecropping family, and moved to Glenville in 1963 when she was 18 to live with her sister and to get to the big city. 

Shortly after, she got married and moved to 49th Street and Central Avenue. Her husband worked for the railroad and in between pregnancies, she worked the night shift at the city hospital as an aid assistant. They had two daughters and a son. As her kids got older she worked at General Electric where she stayed for 17 years.. When she wasn’t working, Allen was an avid gardener. She planted food and flowers while neighborhood kids watched her work. 

Her checks at the time averaged to 68 dollars every two weeks, and she remembers only having 26 dollars of that left after paying the babysitter. One of the appeals for her was  the Supplemental Education Center building on the corner of Euclid near downtown Cleveland.  

Allen was involved in the PTA and would go to meetings every monday to ensure her kids had the best school experience possible. She also helped make kids lunches, so the students wouldn’t have to go home during lunch time.

Allen loved taking her kids to church staying after to talk with the other parents while the children did different activities. Additionally, her kids were involved in programs at Karamu house and would rehearse in different people’s basements. Being part of multiple community groups in the city was important to Allen so she could give her kids an enriched experience in Glenville.   

Allen was also interested in local and national politics. She worked with Carl Stokes on the campaign trail and worked continuously throughout the years to assist with voting efforts up until President Barack Obama was elected. She even allowed campaigners to stay at her house during election season. She wanted to do whatever she could to help progress our democracy. Allen Remembers a time when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. came to the area and she saw him speak on the corner at St. Clair Avenue. “We were told that we were not to go by our jobs. I was working at the hospital then and I said I’m going. When it was over I went on to work and nobody said anything...It was uplifting for one, and number two it felt like maybe we would get some of the good things that should have been in this neighborhood coming into the neighborhood. Number three, it brought the people together.” 

Now, after years of giving herself a full life full of unique experiences, she spends her days gardening, talking to her grandkids, and doing puzzles.