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History of Race Relations in Ohio

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History of Race Relations in Ohio
James Candler
ETH-125
February 5 2012
Loren Butler

History of Race Relations in Ohio
The great state of Ohio, the heart of it all. You know, in my travels around our nation both in the military, and as a truck driver, I found that no matter where you go you will always run into someone who is or was from Ohio. Home to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and the Pro Football Hall of Fame, in addition to four U.S. Presidents.
Demographically speaking, Ohio is a majority White state and has always been majority White, with Hispanics making up the second largest group, then Blacks, Asians, and Native Americans. The current trending shows that Hispanics are the fastest growing group in Ohio, having surpassed Blacks just in the last ten years. In my experience around Ohio most of the minority population is concentrated around the urban centers of the state, leaving many rural communities (like the one I grew up in, and my current one) to be completely White, with no minorities at all. This can be cause for concern over race relations because without exposure to these minority groups there can be no education and understanding of them, leading to hereditary prejudices surfacing when exposure is finally forced.
In 1959 the state of Ohio enacted the Ohio Civil Rights Act of 1959 to "prevent and eliminate the practice of discrimination in employment against persons because of their race, color, religion, national origin, or ancestry." The Civil Rights Act also guaranteed all people fair access to public facilities and private businesses. The Ohio Civil Rights Act established the Ohio Civil Rights Commission to help eliminate discrimination in Ohio.
A little known fact, Ohio had the very first African American mayor of any major U.S. city. In 1967, Carl B. Stokes was elected mayor of Cleveland Ohio, and served until 1971. Also during this time The Honorable Robert M. Duncan of Urbana Ohio became the first African-American elected Justice to the Supreme Court of Ohio (1969-1971) and was also the first African-American appointed to both the United States Court of Military Appeals (1971-1974) and the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio (1974-1985). (Ohio Civil Rights Hall of Fame)
Also in Oberlin Ohio, there is a college, Oberlin College, which has the distinction of being the first college in America to adopt a policy to admit students of color (1835) and the first to grant bachelor’s degrees to women (1841) in a coeducational program. (Oberlin College Fast Facts).
Ohio was also a major part of the underground railroad, in fact there is still a debate as to how it was named “the underground railroad” but one of the accepted stories goes, “In 1831, Tice Davids, a runaway slave, fled from his owner in Kentucky. Davids swam across the Ohio River with his owner in close pursuit in a boat. Davids reached the Ohio shore at the town of Ripley just a few minutes before his owner, but the owner could not find his slave. The owner purportedly said that Davids must of gone off on an underground road. Local abolitionists probably hid the man and helped him escape.
Rush Sloane, an abolitionist from Sandusky, Ohio, claimed that the Davids episode led to the naming of the Underground Railroad. Historians continue to remain divided as to the accuracy of this statement” (Tice Davids). One author credits Oberlin Ohio with being “The Town that started the Civil War” the title of a book by Nat Brandt, speaking about the antislavery sentiment of the town and college by the same name. So as you can see Ohio has always been at the front of the fight for civil rights and equality.
With that being said, it is strange to learn that of the original residents of the Ohio area, and those for which many towns, cities and areas in Ohio are named, almost none remain because of the Indian removals of the 1800’s. So while early Ohioans were fighting for equal rights and freedoms for Blacks, the Native Americans who had always lived in these lands before were being pushed out, most of them were moved to Oklahoma and Kansas. One of the last to be forced out, the Wyandot Indians had a reservation in the same county that I grew up in, but in 1842 they were forced to cede their claim to that land and relocated to Kansas (Wyandot Indians ). It is difficult for me to understand how a state that can fight so hard for Black freedom and rights can at the same time push Native Americans off their land within that very state.
From what I can tell in my situation and position the media local to my community does not have a bias toward any one group. This, I think is more due to the fact that this area is predominantly white, but more to the point the majority of people here belong to the same economic grouping no matter what their race, ethnic or cultural background is. I do think however that most media any more will be careful not to show any racial bias since in today’s society racial statements tend to be frowned on and cause people to steer clear of that media to keep from being associated with comments like that.
Most of my interaction with races other than my own has come to me through my time in the United States Navy, and my time as a truck driver traveling throughout this nation. Very little of it has been in my home state or community because I have always lived in the small rural areas that were mostly if not fully White is race, culture and ethnicity. The few people of other race, culture or ethnicity that did live in these communities were treated no differently than anyone else. They were seen as who they were not what they were, this maybe the basis for my almost unique views on race. I have spoken before about my thoughts that just because a person has a different skin color or belief than I do, doesn’t make him or her anything less than I am, a human being. We all bleed red, we all are supposed to have ten fingers, ten toes and all the same basic bits and pieces. So why would we treat someone any different based on their skin is darker, or lighter, or their religion is different?
It is my personal belief that people for the most part are willing to look past differences and be at least civil to each other regardless of race, culture or ethnicity as long as you can get them in one on one interaction. It is when people get grouped up that problems arise and discrimination begins. The mob mentality feeds and fuels peoples insecurities making them lash out at those that differ from them. Then the perceived support from those others in the group that harbor some of the same feelings causes the discrimination to spread and stereotypes are born. Break up the groups and force individual interaction with races, cultures and religions different from each other and eventually understanding and tolerance will become main stream.
In closing I hope you have been enlightened about some of the history of Ohio where civil rights and racial demographics are concerned, as the saying about the state goes, Ohio the heart of it all, Ohio really has been in the middle of the battle from the start. There have been several firsts in Ohio and quite a few legends surrounding Ohio’s role in the Underground Railroad. I have to say, other than the treatment of Native Americans, and pushing them off their tribal lands, I am fairly proud of my state’s history in the fight for civil rights as well as the current state of racial affairs that I see in local communities.

Some of this course has been difficult for a person in my position, as it assumes a certain level of interaction with community. While we worked it out in the end you may want to take it into consideration for future classes.

References
Oberlin College and Conservitory. (n.d.). Oberlin College Fast Facts. Retrieved from http://new.oberlin.edu/about/fast-facts.dot
Ohio Civil Rights Commission. (n.d.). Ohio Civil Rights Hall of Fame. Retrieved from http://crc.ohio.gov/HallofFame.htm
Ohio History Central. (n.d.). Tice Davids. Retrieved from http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/entry.php?rec=2457
Ohio History Central. (n.d.). Wyandot Indians. Retrieved from http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/entry.php?rec=646
U.S. Census. (n.d.). Ohio Demographics. Retrieved from http://censtats.census.gov/data/OH/04039.pdf
U.S. Census. (n.d.). Ohio Quick Facts. Retrieved from http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/39000.html

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