COLUMBUS, Ohio (Feb. 16, 2023) — The celebration of Black History Month is alive and well in Ohio this February and all year long. Ohio was the first free state formed from the Northwest Territory. Ohio offers numerous destinations to explore and to learn about the people and places that shaped Ohio’s African American history.
Museums
Many museums in Ohio offer programming focused on educating visitors about Black individuals who impacted the state and the country, as well as their lived experiences.
- The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati continues to be in the running as a finalist in USA TODAY’s 10 Best history museums. The Freedom Center is a place for people of all races to understand the triumphs and the hardships faced during slavery, the abolition of slavery, and the civil rights movement.
- The National Afro-American Museum & Cultural Center in Wilberforce is part of the Ohio History Connection’s historic site system. It is home to one of the nation’s largest African American archives and collections, including Alex Haley’s final draft of Roots.
- The African American Archives of the Western Reserve Historical Society in Cleveland collects, preserves, and makes accessible historical documents, artifacts, and photographs about African American life, history, and culture in northeast Ohio.
- The Harriet Beecher Stowe House in Cincinnati’s Walnut Hills neighborhood is a reminder of how the author Harriet Beecher Stowe transformed from an ordinary young mother to a revolutionary writer.
Underground Railroad
From the Ohio River to Lake Erie, Ohio had the most active network of safe houses and hiding places of any other state, with an estimated 3,000 miles of routes used by people seeking freedom.
- The Clermont County Freedom Trail runs along the Ohio River and includes 42 historical sites, of which 22 are part of the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom. A self-guided and audio tour is available.
- The Underground Railroad Museum in Flushing, a village in eastern Ohio, may seem like an unlikely place for a museum but it tells the tale of prominent people in Belmont County’s history who helped runaway slaves seek refuge. The museum contains 8,000+ artifacts.
- The Rankin House in Ripley, which belonged to abolitionist Rev. John Rankin, is documented as one of the most active Underground Railroad stations in Ohio. It is estimated that more than 2,000 slaves seeking freedom stayed here.
- The Lathrop House in Sylvania (near Toledo) belonged to the Lathrop family, abolitionists who harbored enslaved people looking for freedom. It is the only Underground Railroad stop in northwest Ohio open to the public.
Explore Ohio’s African American History
Several universities and colleges have spaces and monuments dedicated to celebrating Ohio’s Black history. That includes a statue of Martin Luther King Jr., which commemorates his Jan. 11, 1968 visit to Ohio Northern University. Other locations include:
- The Downtown Oberlin Walking Tour of Civil War Monuments is a self-guided tour of 11 historical sites and monuments. The monument of Martin Luther King Jr. on East Vine Street was created to honor his visit to Oberlin College in the 1960s.
- The Paul Laurence Dunbar House in Dayton contains many personal memorabilia of one of the first influential Black poets in American Literature. He graduated from Dayton’s Central High School class of 1891, where he also became friends with Orville Wright — part of the famous Wright brothers.
- Karamu House, in Cleveland, opened in 1915 and is the oldest African American theater in the U.S. and is listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.
- The Washington Gladden Social Justice Park in Columbus offers an opportunity to learn about social justice legends, including Rev. Dr. Washington Gladden, considered a leading social justice advocate in the 1900s. “Our Single Garment of Destiny” sculpture, dedicated in 2020, is a key exhibit.
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About TourismOhio
Operating within Ohio’s Department of Development, TourismOhio works to position Ohio as a destination of choice to enrich lives through authentic travel experiences. TourismOhio supports Ohio’s multibillion-dollar tourism industry. In 2021, the tourism industry generated $47 billion in visitor spending and welcomed 219 million visitors into and within the state. The industry also supported 411,000 Ohio jobs. For more information, visit Ohio.org.
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