Honor the History of Black Cincinnati with These Books
Blackness should be celebrated year-round, not just in February. However, this month brings the chance for people to intentionally reflect and learn more about the long, and often hidden, history of Black people in our country. High school history classes around the country are profoundly guilty of omitting Black history in their curriculum, and 28 days is certainly not enough time to dismantle a long cycle of educational exclusion.
We’ve curated a list of books specifically detailing the history of Black people in Cincinnati by local historians, scholars, and writers as one way to help fill this gap. These books span from the start of the underground railroad to current Black Lives Matter protests, but this is absolutely not a definitive list of Black history in Cincinnati.
Black history is our history, and participating in our history means listening to Black voices, understanding our shared past, reveling in our present, and looking to our future.
Written by Olivia Taylor. Research by Emma Segrest and Olivia Taylor.
Cincinnati: The Black America Series
by Gina Ruffin Moore
Gina Ruffin Moore offers a comprehensive look at Black history in Cincinnati through the lens of community, education, voting, entertainment, civil rights, and other topics. Moore also includes captivating images found in libraries and private collections to show the rich history of Black heritage.
Cincinnati’s Underground Railroad
by Richard Cooper and Eric R. Jackson
Cincinnati's history on the Ohio River is synonymous with liberation and new beginnings. This book uncovers how Cincinnatians played a crucial role in establishing the underground railroad – sowing the seeds of freedom decades before the Civil War.
Cincinnati’s West End: Through Our Eyes
by John W. Harshaw Sr.
Set against the crackling political and social climate in Cincinnati between 1940 and 1970, John W. Harshaw Sr. studies the West End through its residents as they live through segregation, integration, protests, and affirmative action.
Contested Terrain: African-American Women Migrate from the South to Cincinnati, Ohio, 1900-1950
by Beverly A. Bunch-Lyons
This book examines the American dream through the interconnection of race, gender, neighborhoods, and politics during the first half of the 20th century and how it laid the groundwork for present-day Cincinnati.
Gems of Cincinnati's West End: Black Children and Catholic Missionaries Ministry 1940-1970
by LaVerne Summerlin
Personal narratives and storytelling are at the core of this work, weaving together the history between the West End's Black community and the Catholic church.
Keep on Fighting: The Life and Civil Rights Legacy of Marian A. Spencer
by Dorothy H. Christenson
From acts of civil disobedience to voting rights and community advocacy, dive into the towering achievements of one of Cincinnati's most prominent civil rights leaders, Marian Spencer.
Race and the City: Work, Community, and Protest in Cincinnati, 1820-1970
edited by Henry Louis Taylor Jr.
Social and political movements are the driving force behind this relevant and thorough book. It also offers insight into how local communities responded to racism and oppression with action and opportunity.
Six Days in Cincinnati: A Graphic Account of the Riots That Shook the Nation a Decade Before Black Lives Matter
by Dan Méndez Moore
Timothy Thomas, a 19-year-old Black man, was fatally shot by police in Cincinnati in 2001. What followed was a series of protests that became one of the first social movements of the 21st century. Dan Méndez Moore's words and art paint a necessary narrative that's particularly poignant today.
Your Negro Tour Guide: Truths in Black and White
by Kathy Y. Wilson
Kathy Y. Wilson is one of the most prominent voices in modern Cincinnati journalism, and with Your Negro Tour Guide, Wilson explores Cincinnati history through race, class, sexuality, and gender. Brazenly honest, Wilson intercuts biting essays about national figures with anecdotes from her own life.
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