Description: Photograph of Charles Harris Wesley, a prominent African American scholar, artist, minister and civil rights figure. He received degrees from Fisk University, Yale University and Harvard University and taught at Howard University in Washington. He was a minister of the African Methodist Episcopal Church and was awarded the Doctor of Divinity degree by Wilberforce University. He served as president of Wilberforce University in the 1940s, founded of Central State College in 1948 and served as the first director of the Afro-American Historical and Cultural Museum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in the 1970s. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: NAM_VFM34_1
Subjects: Activists; Civil Liberties; Civil rights; Civil rights movements--United States--History--20th century; African American men; African American authors; Wilberforce University; Howard University; Central State College
Places: Washington (District of Columbia); Philadelphia (Pennsylvania); Wilberforce (Ohio); Greene County (Ohio)
 

Description: Charles Harris Wesley shaking hands with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. shortly after receiving his honorary doctorate from Central State College in 1958. Charles Harris Wesley was a prominent African American scholar, artist, minister and civil rights figure. He received degrees from Fisk University, Yale University and Harvard University and taught at Howard University in Washington. He was a minister of the African Methodist Episcopal Church and was awarded the Doctor of Divinity degree by Wilberforce University. He served as president of Wilberforce University in the 1940s, founded of Central State College in 1948 and served as the first director of the Afro-American Historical and Cultural Museum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in the 1970s. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: NAM_VFM34_2_20.tif
Subjects: Activists; Civil Liberties; Civil rights; Civil rights movements--United States--History--20th century; African American men; African American authors; Wilberforce University; Howard University; Central State College
Places: Wilberforce (Ohio); Greene County (Ohio)
 

Description: Four images representing two postcards depict the interior of the Quaker Meeting House, also known as the Friends Yearly Meeting House, in Mt. Pleasant, Ohio. The meeting house holds 2,000 worshippers and contains a mechanism that allowed a partition to be raised and lowered. The partition was used to separate men and women during some special meetings. The first postcard shows the partition partly raised. The second postcard shows the Spanish windlass and wheel that was used to raise and lower the partition. These postcards measure 3" by 5" (7.6 by 12.7 cm). The Quaker Meeting House in Mount Pleasant, Ohio was built in 1814 for the Ohio Yearly Meeting. This was the first yearly meeting house built west of the Alleghenies. This meeting was composed of quarterly meetings from Ohio as well as Pennsylvania and the Indiana Territory. The final yearly meeting was held at the meeting house in 1909. The Quakers of Mount Pleasant were well-known for their abolitionist activities. As early as the 1810s, there are reports that the Quakers were assisting escaped slaves. In 1817, Charles Osborn began publishing the Philanthropist, which is regarded as the first anti-slavery newspaper in the nation. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: Om3242_3832061_001
Subjects: Civil Liberties; Religion in Ohio; Architecture; Quakers; Society of Friends; Religious facilities; National Register of Historic Places
Places: Mount Pleasant (Ohio); Jefferson County (Ohio)
 

Description: This lock of hair enclosed in a frame measuring 5.7" by 7.8" (14.6 by 19.8 cm) is from Edwin Coppoc of Salem, Ohio. Also enclosed in the frame is a statement that appears to have been printed by the Ohio Historical Society indicating that the hair was donated by a cousin of Coppoc's in 1921. Coppoc joined a small group of abolitionists led by John Brown on October 16, 1859. They seized the federal arsenal at Harper's Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia), in hopes of inspiring and arming a slave insurrection. Both Brown and Coppoc were captured, tried, and convicted of treason. Coppoc was executed on December 16, 1859. John Brown, although born in Torrington, Connecticut, spent more than half his life in Ohio. Like many other "free soil" Ohioans, Brown went in the 1850s to the Kansas Territory, where he employed violence to prevent slavery from spreading. While his raid on Harper's Ferry was unsuccessful, his actions had important consequences. In the opinion of antislavery activist Frederick Douglass, "John Brown began the war that ended American slavery and made this a free Republic. His zeal in the cause of my race was far greater than mine. I could live for the slave, but he could die for him." Brown was hanged on December 2, 1859. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: Om1488_1535225_001
Subjects: Daily Life; Civil Liberties; Abolitionists; Hair; Harpers Ferry (W. Va.) History John Brown's Raid, 1859
Places: Salem (Ohio); Columbiana County (Ohio)
 

Description: Photograph showing the South Newbury Union Chapel, a noted site in suffrage history where a small group of women illegally cast ballots in a local election in 1871, becoming the first female voters in Ohio's history. The chapel was originally constructed in 1858 after future president James A. Garfield, then a teacher at Western Reserve Eclectic Institute, was denied permission to speak at a nearby Congregational Church due to potentially controversial subject matter. The Women’s Suffrage and Political Club would be organized at the chapel in 1874--the second such organization in Ohio and one of the earliest in the country--and it was also used as a speaking venue for suffrage activists including Susan B. Anthony, Lucy Stone, Ellen Munn and Harriet Taylor Upton. This item comes from the Frances Jennings Casement Papers, a manuscript collection comprised of letters and association records related to the founding and leadership of the Ohio Woman Suffrage Association. Casement (1840-1928) was born in Painesville, Ohio, and graduated from Painesville Academy and Willoughby Female Seminary. Her father, Charles Casement, supported abolition and women's suffrage and encouraged Frances to be active in social causes. Frances Casement established the Painesville Equal Rights Association in 1883, and shortly after became involved in the Ohio Woman Suffrage Association, serving as its president from 1885 to 1888. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: MSS510_B01F77_UnionChapel
Subjects: Ohio Women; Civil Liberties; Suffrage; Suffragists; Social movements; Chapels -- Ohio;
Places: South Newbury (Ohio); Geauga County (Ohio)
 

Description: Photograph identified as Julia P. Green hanging a wreath on the Centennial Oak in South Newbury, Ohio, August 23, 1919. The oak was planted July 4, 1876, by the Women's Suffrage and Political Club in Newbury in honor of the United States Centennial. Its location was chosen to be across from the South Newbury Union Chapel, a noted site in suffrage history where a small group of women illegally cast ballots in a local election in 1871, becoming the first female voters in Ohio's history. The chapel was originally constructed in 1858 after future president James A. Garfield, then a teacher at Western Reserve Eclectic Institute, was denied permission to speak at a nearby Congregational Church due to potentially controversial subject matter. The Women’s Suffrage and Political Club would be organized at the chapel in 1874--the second such organization in Ohio and one of the earliest in the country--and it was also used as a speaking venue for suffrage activists including Susan B. Anthony, Lucy Stone, Ellen Munn and Harriet Taylor Upton. Dr. Julia Green, M.D., was involved in suffrage work and other progressive movements in town, and served as an officer in the Women's Suffrage and Political Club. This item comes from the Frances Jennings Casement Papers, a manuscript collection comprised of letters and association records related to the founding and leadership of the Ohio Woman Suffrage Association. Casement (1840-1928) was born in Painesville, Ohio, and graduated from Painesville Academy and Willoughby Female Seminary. Her father, Charles Casement, supported abolition and women's suffrage and encouraged Frances to be active in social causes. Frances Casement established the Painesville Equal Rights Association in 1883, and shortly after became involved in the Ohio Woman Suffrage Association, serving as its president from 1885 to 1888. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: MSS510_B01F77_GreenOak
Subjects: Ohio Women; Civil Liberties; Suffrage; Suffragists; Social movements; Women in medicine
Places: South Newbury (Ohio); Geauga County (Ohio)
 

Description: Photograph showing the Centennial Oak on the old D. W. Allen farm in South Newbury, Ohio, August 23, 1919. The oak was planted July 4, 1876, by the Women's Suffrage and Political Club in Newbury in honor of the United States Centennial. Its location was chosen to be across from the South Newbury Union Chapel, a noted site in suffrage history where a small group of women illegally cast ballots in a local election in 1871, becoming the first female voters in Ohio's history. The chapel was originally constructed in 1858 after future president James A. Garfield, then a teacher at Western Reserve Eclectic Institute, was denied permission to speak at a nearby Congregational Church due to potentially controversial subject matter. The Women’s Suffrage and Political Club would be organized at the chapel in 1874--the second such organization in Ohio and one of the earliest in the country--and it was also used as a speaking venue for suffrage activists including Susan B. Anthony, Lucy Stone, Ellen Munn and Harriet Taylor Upton. This item comes from the Frances Jennings Casement Papers, a manuscript collection comprised of letters and association records related to the founding and leadership of the Ohio Woman Suffrage Association. Casement (1840-1928) was born in Painesville, Ohio, and graduated from Painesville Academy and Willoughby Female Seminary. Her father, Charles Casement, supported abolition and women's suffrage and encouraged Frances to be active in social causes. Frances Casement established the Painesville Equal Rights Association in 1883, and shortly after became involved in the Ohio Woman Suffrage Association, serving as its president from 1885 to 1888. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: MSS510_B01F77_CentennialOak
Subjects: Ohio Women; Civil Liberties; Suffrage; Suffragists; Ohio League of Women Voters; Social movements;
Places: South Newbury (Ohio); Geauga County (Ohio)
 

Description: Portrait of Stella Hall Green of Cleveland, Ohio. Hall was involved in the suffrage movement in Ohio, first in Columbus and later in Cleveland, where she moved in 1888. She was a member of the National American Woman's Suffrage Association and the National League of Women Voters. This item comes from the Frances Jennings Casement Papers, a manuscript collection comprised of letters and association records related to the founding and leadership of the Ohio Woman Suffrage Association. Casement (1840-1928) was born in Painesville, Ohio, and graduated from Painesville Academy and Willoughby Female Seminary. Her father, Charles Casement, supported abolition and women's suffrage and encouraged Frances to be active in social causes. Frances Casement established the Painesville Equal Rights Association in 1883, and shortly after became involved in the Ohio Woman Suffrage Association, serving as its president from 1885 to 1888. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: MSS510_B01F77_SHGreen
Subjects: Ohio Women; Civil Liberties; Suffrage; Suffragists; Ohio League of Women Voters; Social movements;
Places: Cleveland (Ohio); Cuyahoga County (Ohio);
 

Description: Portrait of women's suffrage leader Anna Howard Shaw (1847-1919) , accompanied by a poem and mounted in a small sleeve with the date of February 14, 1920, printed on the front. That date would have been Shaw's 73rd birthday. She wears what looks like a graduation cap and gown and gestures with a large feather or palm in her hand. In addition to working as a leader in the fight for suffrage, Shaw was a licensed physician and was among the first female Methodist ministers ordained in the United States. This item comes from the Frances Jennings Casement Papers, a manuscript collection comprised of letters and association records related to the founding and leadership of the Ohio Woman Suffrage Association. Casement (1840-1928) was born in Painesville, Ohio, and graduated from Painesville Academy and Willoughby Female Seminary. Her father, Charles Casement, supported abolition and women's suffrage and encouraged Frances to be active in social causes. Frances Casement established the Painesville Equal Rights Association in 1883, and shortly after became involved in the Ohio Woman Suffrage Association, serving as its president from 1885 to 1888. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: MSS510_B01F77_Shaw
Subjects: Civil Liberties; Suffrage; Suffragists; Social movements;
 

Description: Photograph identified on its reverse as Ruth Munn (1809-1876), the first president of the Equal Suffrage Club (also known as the Women's Suffrage and Political Club) of South Newbury, Ohio. The club, organized in 1874, was the second such organization in Ohio and one of the earliest in the country. This item comes from the Frances Jennings Casement Papers, a manuscript collection comprised of letters and association records related to the founding and leadership of the Ohio Woman Suffrage Association. Casement (1840-1928) was born in Painesville, Ohio, and graduated from Painesville Academy and Willoughby Female Seminary. Her father, Charles Casement, supported abolition and women's suffrage and encouraged Frances to be active in social causes. Frances Casement established the Painesville Equal Rights Association in 1883, and shortly after became involved in the Ohio Woman Suffrage Association, serving as its president from 1885 to 1888. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: MSS510_B01F77_Munn
Subjects: Ohio Women; Civil Liberties; Suffrage; Suffragists; Ohio League of Women Voters; Social movements;
Places: South Newbury (Ohio); Geauga County (Ohio);
 

Description: Photograph showing Susan B. Anthony posed for a portrait with a book. Anthony (1820-1906) was a nationally-known advocate for women's suffrage, and along with Elizabeth Cady Stanton, published newspaper "The Revolution" and founded the New York Women's State Temperance Society, Women's Loyal National American Equal Rights Association, and the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA). This item comes from the Frances Jennings Casement Papers, a manuscript collection comprised of letters and association records related to the founding and leadership of the Ohio Woman Suffrage Association. Casement (1840-1928) was born in Painesville, Ohio, and graduated from Painesville Academy and Willoughby Female Seminary. Her father, Charles Casement, supported abolition and women's suffrage and encouraged Frances to be active in social causes. Frances Casement established the Painesville Equal Rights Association in 1883, and shortly after became involved in the Ohio Woman Suffrage Association, serving as its president from 1885 to 1888. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: MSS510_B01F77_Anthony
Subjects: Civil Liberties; Suffrage; Suffragists; Social movements;
 

Description: Carrie Chapman Catt (left) and Harriet Taylor Upton (right) ride in an automobile with a large bouquet, likely during a parade in New York, 1920. The event may have been in celebration of the passage of the 19th Amendment, granting suffrage to women at the federal level. Catt (1859-1947) was a nationally-known advocate for the suffrage movement, and served as president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association and founder of the League of Women Voters and the International Alliance of Women. Upton (1853-1945) was an Ohioan who became involved in the women's suffrage movement while living in Washington, D.C. In 1890, she joined the National American Woman Suffrage Association, and was elected treasurer in 1894, an office she held until 1910. Upton also served as president of the Ohio Woman Suffrage Association from 1899 to 1908 and again from 1911 to 1920. A life-long member of the Republican Party, Upton became the first woman to serve on the Republican National Executive Committee, in 1920. This item comes from the Frances Jennings Casement Papers, a manuscript collection comprised of letters and association records related to the founding and leadership of the Ohio Woman Suffrage Association. Casement (1840-1928) was born in Painesville, Ohio, and graduated from Painesville Academy and Willoughby Female Seminary. Her father, Charles Casement, supported abolition and women's suffrage and encouraged Frances to be active in social causes. Frances Casement established the Painesville Equal Rights Association in 1883, and shortly after became involved in the Ohio Woman Suffrage Association, serving as its president from 1885 to 1888. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: MSS510_B01F77_Catt
Subjects: Upton, Harriet Taylor; Civil Liberties; Suffrage; Suffragists; Social movements;