Willie D. Thompson is shown in this February 1983 photo from The Lima News researching the history of Blacks in Lima. Thompson gleaned information from phone books, city directories, census reports and previous Black history projects, including one compiled in 1971 by a history class at Ohio State University at Lima. “Accumulating more knowledge of black history – local and national – can be an important element in the education of all people,” Thompson said when she delivered a lecture on the history of Blacks in Lima at the Allen County Museum.