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The black experience in Ohio
By Ken Canfield
Staff Writer
You don't have to go far to learn about the black experience in Ohio.
All you have to do is head for the National Afro-American Museum and Cultural Center in Wilberforce.
The museum, which is operated by the Ohio Historical Society.
Wilberforce is an appropriate host for the telling of Ohio's black history. As part of the Ordinance of 1787, slavery was banned in the Northwest Territory. So even before Ohio's statehood, the Greene County village provided a home for African Americans seeking freedom.
The museum estimates that at least 40,000 slaves escaped through Ohio before the Civil War, with many of them passing through Wilberforce's seven stations on the Underground Railroad.
The exhibit - to include a video presentation and interactive computer station - will detail those stories, along with the people and institutions that made history.
Wilberforce University, founded in 1856 and named after English statesman and abolitionist William Wilberforce, lays claim to being the first black-administered institution of higher education in the nation. Payne Theological Seminary is even older than Wilberforce, with which it is affiliated. Founded by the African Methodist Episcopal Church in 1844, it is the oldest theological institution in the United States. A third historic institution, Central State College (later University), was spun off of Wilberforce in 1951.
Among those whose lives will be featured include Bishop Benjamin W. Arnett, an Ohio legislator from 1886-1888; educator Hallie Q. Brown and brother Jere A., who served in the Ohio legislature; W.E.B. DuBois, civil rights leader and Wilberforce professor; Charles Young, one of the first black West Point graduates; and singer Nancy Wilson.
A smaller version of the bicentennial exhibit will travel around the state.
Also not to be missed at the museum is the permanent exhibition `From Victory to Freedom: Afro-American Life in the Fifties,' Scenes include a barber shop, a beauty salon and a church interior. Also on display are photos, clothes, jewelry, consumer products, sports equipment and other period pieces. Also included is a video Music As a Metapho r, which traces black music from its roots in Africa to the sounds of the '50s.
The Ohio Historical Society's 200-acre park is open weekends through October.
Contact Ken Canfield at (937) 225-2259.
HOW TO GO
- What: National Afro-American Museum and Cultural Center
- Where: 1350 Brush Row Road, Wilberforce, OH 45384 one-half mile north of U.S. 42 in Wilberforce. Make a map
- Hours: 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. Closed Sunday and Monday.
- Admission: Adults $4 ($3.60 for seniors), children 6 - 12 and college students (with student identification) $1.50, children 5 and younger free.
- Information: (937) 376-4944 and (800) 752-2603 [Web site]
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