lent

The Catholic Rural Life Conferences and Anti-Racism Task Force of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati Social Action Office invite you to join us for a series of three presentations looking at three unique aspects of African American history in southwestern Ohio.

The talks will operate independently so attendees can join for the whole series or simply the one or two that work for their schedules. All talks will take place over Zoom.

Session 3:

Gist Communities—Settlements of Freed Slaves: How They Happened and Continue Today

In the early part of the 19^th century, Samuel Gist of Virginia bought several hundred acres of land in southwest Ohio which he bequeathed to his slaves. They were emancipated upon Gist’s death and escorted to this land to live as freed black persons. Learn how three Gist Communities were formed from this reality, how they worked, how they eventually dwindled, and how folks today struggle to preserve them (and learn about other experiences of rural Blacks in the quest for equal treatment).

Presenters: Neil Snarr, Professor Emeritus at Wilmington College, & Peggy Mills Warner, 6th generation descendent of the Gist Community in Brown County

The Catholic Rural Life Conferences and Anti-Racism Task Force of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati Social Action Office invite you to join us for a series of three presentations looking at three unique aspects of African American history in southwestern Ohio.

The talks will operate independently so attendees can join for the whole series or simply the one or two that work for their schedules. All talks will take place over Zoom.

Session 2:

Carthagena—Ohio’s Largest Free Black and Mulatto Settlement

White mobs during the Cincinnati Riots of 1829 forced half of the 2,250 black people to escape from the city. In 1835, along with abolitionist Augustus Wattles, fifteen free black families fled north, and purchased hundreds of acres in Mercer County. Mulatto Charles Moore plotted the Village of Carthagena in 1840, and by 1860 more than 600 blacks and mulattos lived on their farms nearby. Hear the history of these pioneers who established Ohio’s largest rural pre-Civil War black community.

Presenter: Mary Ann Olding, President & Owner of Old World Research Company

The Catholic Rural Life Conferences and Anti-Racism Task Force of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati Social Action Office invite you to join us for a series of three presentations looking at three unique aspects of African American history in southwestern Ohio.

The talks will operate independently so attendees can join for the whole series or simply the one or two that work for their schedules. All talks will take place over Zoom.

Session 1:

The Community Within: Discovering African American History in Rural Ohio

Many rural areas in Ohio have long-established black communities that are often invisible to the larger white communities in which they reside. This program relates the adventure of reclaiming the lost history of African Americans in Knox County, Ohio while explaining the benefits of including minority populations within celebrations of heritage and sharing strategies for undertaking such projects in communities of various sizes and racial and ethnic makeups.

Presenter: Professor Ric Sheffield, Chair of the American Studies Department at Kenyon College