Description: This color map documents Franklin County's housing patterns, with information about the African American population distribution by census tract in 1970. On the reverse side of the map is the numerical 1970 census information indicating African American population in Franklin County by census tract. This map may have been useful to track any patterns of civil rights violations in Franklin County. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: MSS785_B02F01_01_01
Subjects: Maps--Ohio; African Americans--Ohio; Housing--Ohio--Columbus; Civil rights;
Places: Columbus (Ohio); Franklin County (Ohio)
 

Description: Employees of the C. W. Bryant Rigging & Moving Company moving the Linden School building along a set of tracks in Columbus, Ohio, September 1921. Charles William Bryant Jr. was born in Dayton in 1882, and from his start as a farmhand with a 3rd grade education would go on to become a prominent African American businessman, self-taught engineer, and owner of one of Columbus’ largest construction firms. The C. W. Bryant Rigging & Moving Co. was involved in major projects throughout Columbus, including the construction of a temporary Broad Street bridge following the 1913 flood, the removal of lighting arcs from High Street, and dismantling Hanford Village in 1962 for the construction of I-71. Bryant faced racial discrimination in his personal and professional life, including the refusal of local steelworkers’ unions to admit Bryant’s black employees, which forced Bryant Co. out of steel construction in the 1950s. He nonetheless expanded into other areas, including ownership of Bryco gas stations, a coal and oil company, the Litchford and Macon hotels, and the Ohio Malt Beverage Co.-the first African American distributor in Columbus. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL04471
Subjects: Schools--Ohio; African Americans--Ohio; Bryant, Charles William, Jr. (1882-1964); Business and Labor; Construction industry--Ohio; Columbus (Ohio)--History--20th century;
Places: Columbus (Ohio); Franklin County (Ohio)
 

Description: Employees of the C. W. Bryant Rigging & Moving Company moving a building at the Buckeye Steel Castings Plant along a set of tracks in Columbus, Ohio, August 4, 1924. The building, which weighed 350 tons, was moved 280 feet in two directions in just 17 days. Charles William Bryant Jr. was born in Dayton in 1882, and from his start as a farmhand with a 3rd grade education would go on to become a prominent African American businessman, self-taught engineer, and owner of one of Columbus’ largest construction firms. The C. W. Bryant Rigging & Moving Co. was involved in major projects throughout Columbus, including the construction of a temporary Broad Street bridge following the 1913 flood, the removal of lighting arcs from High Street, and dismantling Hanford Village in 1962 for the construction of I-71. Bryant faced racial discrimination in his personal and professional life, including the refusal of local steelworkers’ unions to admit Bryant’s black employees, which forced Bryant Co. out of steel construction in the 1950s. He nonetheless expanded into other areas, including ownership of Bryco gas stations, a coal and oil company, the Litchford and Macon hotels, and the Ohio Malt Beverage Co.-the first African American distributor in Columbus. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL04472
Subjects: Steel industry and trade--Ohio; African Americans--Ohio; Bryant, Charles William, Jr. (1882-1964); Business and Labor; Construction industry--Ohio; Columbus (Ohio)--History--20th century;
Places: Columbus (Ohio); Franklin County (Ohio)
 

Description: Photograph of the residence of C. W. Bryant, Jr., located at 2218 North Fourth Street in Columbus, Ohio, September 1, 1922. Charles William Bryant Jr. was born in Dayton in 1882, and from his start as a farmhand with a 3rd grade education would go on to become a prominent African American businessman, self-taught engineer, and owner of one of Columbus’ largest construction firms. The C. W. Bryant Rigging & Moving Co. was involved in major projects throughout Columbus, including the construction of a temporary Broad Street bridge following the 1913 flood, the removal of lighting arcs from High Street, and dismantling Hanford Village in 1962 for the construction of I-71. Bryant faced racial discrimination in his personal and professional life, including the refusal of local steelworkers’ unions to admit Bryant’s black employees, which forced Bryant Co. out of steel construction in the 1950s. He nonetheless expanded into other areas, including ownership of Bryco gas stations, a coal and oil company, the Litchford and Macon hotels, and the Ohio Malt Beverage Co.-the first African American distributor in Columbus. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AV76_B01_F05_002
Subjects: African Americans--Ohio; Bryant, Charles William, Jr. (1882-1964); Construction industry--Ohio; Columbus (Ohio)--History--20th century; Houses;
Places: Columbus (Ohio); Franklin County (Ohio)
 

Description: This image shows Wilberforce University in Wilberforce, Ohio. In 1856, the Methodist Episcopal Church established Wilberforce University near Xenia, Ohio, to provide African Americans access to a college education. The university was the first private black college in the United States. Its founders named the institution after William Wilberforce, a prominent eighteenth-century abolitionist. A number of African-American Ohioans attended the school during its early years. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL06412
Subjects: African Americans--Ohio; Wilberforce University; Universities and colleges--Pictorial works
Places: Wilberforce (Ohio); Greene County (Ohio)
 

Description: Dated 1936, this photograph shows a students of a secondary education class which covered arithmetic, history, spelling, and reading, guided by teacher John R. Brown. Butler County Emergency School was located at 1230 Wallace Street in Hamilton, Ohio, and was a Works Progress Administration program. The Works Progress Administration (WPA) was a government office that hired unemployed Americans to work on various government projects from April 8, 1935 to June 30, 1943. In the first six months that the WPA existed, more than 173, 000 Ohioans, including both men and women, found employment through this program. More than 1, 500 unemployed teachers in Ohio found work through the WPA teaching illiterate adults how to read. In twelve separate counties, primarily in southeastern Ohio, more than twenty-five percent of families had at least one member working for the WPA during the late 1930s. By the end of 1938, these various workers had built or improved 12, 300 miles of roads and streets and constructed 636 public buildings, several hundred bridges, hundreds of athletic fields, and five fish hatcheries. WPA employees made improvements to thousands of more buildings, roads, and parks within Ohio. WPA artists also painted a number of murals in Ohio post offices. This photograph is one of the many visual materials collected for use in the Ohio Guide. In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the Works Progress Administration by executive order to create jobs for the large numbers of unemployed laborers, as well as artists, musicians, actors, and writers. The Federal Arts Program, a sector of the Works Progress Administration, included the Federal Writers’ Project, one of the primary goals of which was to complete the America Guide series, a series of guidebooks for each state which included state history, art, architecture, music, literature, and points of interest to the major cities and tours throughout the state. Work on the Ohio Guide began in 1935 with the publication of several pamphlets and brochures. The Reorganization Act of 1939 consolidated the Works Progress Administration and other agencies into the Federal Works Administration, and the Federal Writers’ Project became the Federal Writers’ Project in Ohio. The final product was published in 1940 and went through several editions. The Ohio Guide Collection consists of 4,769 photographs collected for use in Ohio Guide and other publications of the Federal Writers’ Project in Ohio from 1935-1939. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B02F04_001_1
Subjects: Teachers; Education; Schools--Ohio; African Americans; Ohio Federal Writers' Project
Places: Hamilton (Ohio); Butler County (Ohio)
 

Description: This image shows Howard Street in Akron, Ohio, in 1890. Streetcar rails run down the middle of the busy street. Horse-drawn wagons are parked on both sides of the street, and pedestrians are visible on the sidewalk. An advertising banner hangs above the street. Patches of snow are scattered on the street and walkways. Telegraph/telephone poles line the street. Miller & Roche, wholesale and retail grocers, were located on Howard Street. One of their establishments is visible in the left foreground. Another establishment in this photograph is S.E. Allen, a drugstore located at 193 Howard Street (far right, middle). By the mid-20th century, Howard Street become the center of African-American culture. It was home to many of the city's black-owned business and entertainment establishments, and provided an atmosphere in which minority-owned businesses could thrive. Attracted to the vitality of the neighborhood, entrepreneur George Mathews (1887-1982) established a barbershop here in 1920 and in 1925 opened the adjoining Mathews Hotel. The hotel quickly became the anchor of the Howard Street district. Mathews' success allowed him to endow a scholarship fund at the University of Akron in 1964. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL06153
Subjects: Akron (Ohio); Streets--Ohio; Small business--Ohio; Businesses; African Americans--Ohio
Places: Akron (Ohio); Summit County (Ohio)
 

Description: Photograph showing a house that was once used as a station on the Underground Railroad. The description on the back of the photograph reads: "Another of the Winder stations in North Lewisburg." The Underground Railroad was a system of safe houses and hiding places that helped fugitive slaves escape to freedom in the northern United States or across the border in Canada. Thomas Winder, a Quaker, was an operator who helped escaped slaves in the North Lewisburg area of eastern Central Ohio, along with other members of his family. Quakers were strongly opposed to slavery and offered help to slaves seeking their freedom as early as the late 1700s. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SC1338_003_001
Subjects: Underground Railroad--Ohio; Quakers; Abolitionists; African Americans--History; Houses; Antislavery movements--Ohio--History--19th century;
Places: North Lewisburg (Ohio); Champaign County (Ohio)
 

Description: Photograph showing Thomas L. Gray standing in front of his house that was once used as a station on the Underground Railroad. The handwritten caption at the bottom reads: "Thomas L. Gray and His House at Deavertown, Morgan County, Ohio, a station on the Underground Railroad." Born in 1815, Gray earned his living as a harness maker in Deavertown. Besides his economic pursuits, Gray was also active as a conductor on the Underground Railroad. It is believed that Gray helped as many as 500 fugitive slaves in gaining their freedom. His home served as a safe house for former slaves who had crossed the Ohio River between Marietta and Portsmouth. Upon leaving Gray's home, most fugitives then made their way to Zanesville. Gray remained an active conductor on the Underground Railroad until slavery's demise with the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1865. During the American Civil War, Gray also warned his neighbors of General John Hunt Morgan's approach, giving his neighbors time to hide their horses and valuables. Gray died in 1899. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SC1338_007_001
Subjects: Underground Railroad--Ohio; Abolitionists; African Americans--History; Houses; Antislavery movements--Ohio--History--19th century;
Places: Deavertown (Ohio); Morgan County (Ohio)
 

Description: Photograph showing a house that was once used as a "station" on the Underground Railroad. The description on the back of the photograph reads: "The Alexander Doty home, one of the stations on the Underground Railroad and harbor of refuge for Udney Hyde." The Underground Railroad was a system of safe houses and hiding places that helped fugitive slaves escape to freedom in the northern United States or over the border to Canada. Udney Hyde was a well-known operator on the Underground Railroad in Mechanicsburg, Ohio. While aiding escaped slave Addison White, Hyde went into hiding from federal marshals, staying for a time at this home. The home has since been torn down. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SC1338_002_001
Subjects: Underground Railroad--Ohio; Abolition; Abolitionists; African Americans--History; Houses; Antislavery movements--Ohio--History--19th century
Places: Mechanicsburg (Ohio); Champaign County (Ohio)
 

Description: Photograph showing a house that was once used as a "station" on the Underground Railroad. The description on the back of the photograph reads: "Lazy Man's Rest, another station." The Underground Railroad was a system of safe houses and hiding places that helped fugitive slaves escape to freedom in the northern United States or across the border in Canada. Anson Pearl Howard built his home in Mechanicsburg in 1855, calling it "Lazy Man's Rest." He regularly hid fugitive slaves on the premises, sometimes housing as many as ten at a time in the cellar. Howard went on to represent his county in both the U.S. House and the Senate during the Civil War. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SC1338_004_001
Subjects: Underground Railroad--Ohio; Abolition; Abolitionists; African Americans--History; Houses; Antislavery movements--Ohio--History--19th century
Places: Mechanicsburg (Ohio); Champaign County (Ohio)
 

Description: The description on the back of the photograph reads: "Aaron L. Benedict's house, an underground station in Alum Creek Settlement." The Underground Railroad was a system of safe houses and hiding places that helped fugitive slaves escape to freedom in the north. Aaron Benedict was a conductor on the Underground Railroad in Alum Creek. Ohio. He was born on January 21, 1817, in Alum Creek, and eventually inherited his father's farm property. As a devout abolitionist, he was known for assisting fugitive slaves on the Underground Railroad. Slave owners eventually established a $1,000 reward for Benedict's capture. On several occasions, Benedict hired attorneys for accused fugitive slaves. He once convinced a slave owner to free a slave mother and her four children, whom the owner had recaptured near Alum Creek. Benedict threatened the owner with arrest, convincing him to leave the five fugitives alone. Benedict also helped another fugitive, John Green, to free family members still held in bondage in Kentucky. Unfortunately for Green, slave catchers eventually seized his wife and children and returned them to slavery despite Benedict's efforts. Following the American Civil War, Benedict began to raise and breed bees. He became widely respected for his bee research and eventually moved to Kelleys Island on Lake Erie, where he opened an apiary. Benedict died on February 17, 1905. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SC1338_006_001
Subjects: Underground Railroad--Ohio; Abolition; Abolitionists; African Americans--History; Houses; Antislavery movements--Ohio--History--19th century
Places: Delaware (Ohio); Morrow County (Ohio)