Tag Archives: Cincinnati History

Archives and Rare Books Library receives national grant to process historic Cincinnati schools desegregation case records

Posted on by
national archives

The National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) awarded the University of Cincinnati’s Archives and Rare Books Library a $109,349 grant to support a project to complete archival processing of the records of the Cincinnati Branch of the NAACP related to the 1974 Bronson v. Cincinnati Board of Education, the city’s most significant legal case in the fight for school desegregation.

Filed in 1974, the Bronson case was not the first litigation to address segregation and discrimination in the Cincinnati Public Schools, but it was the first to create some accountability for the Cincinnati School Board. Housed in the Archives and Rare Books Library (ARB), the collection contains the Cincinnati Chapter of the NAACP’s records related to the case, including correspondence, court filings, background research on segregation in education in Cincinnati and Hamilton County, the conditions of schools, curriculum and how the Cincinnati Public Schools addressed the decree that was agreed upon as a result of the case.

“The year 2024 marks the 50th anniversary of the 1974 filing of the Bronson v. Cincinnati Board of Education suit. This collection details a significant period in the history of the Cincinnati Public Schools and the history of education in Cincinnati,” said Chris Harter, university archivist and head of the Archives and Rare Books Library. “This collection will be useful to students, faculty and researchers interested in the history of public schools in not only Cincinnati but throughout the United States.”

The Cincinnati NAACP collection complements two significant ARB collections documenting African American leadership and civil rights activism in Cincinnati, both of which contain materials related to the Bronson case. These include the personal papers of Theodore Berry, Cincinnati’s first African American mayor and mayor at the time of the Bronson case, which were processed in 2015 with the assistance of an Archival Projects grant from NHPRC. In addition, the personal papers of NAACP member, and later chapter president, Marian Spencer were processed in 2017. While these collections contain some documentation of the Bronson case and provide insight into the role of two specific individuals in the NAACP’s activism, the records of the Cincinnati chapter of the NAACP will provide a view into the larger legal strategies, research and community activism involved with the court case.

ARB has hired project archivist Julianna Witt to organize the collection and create an online finding aid. Once fully processed, the Cincinnati NAACP Project records will be available for research through the online publication of a full-text searchable finding aid created using the ArchivesSpace collection management system. In consultation with the Cincinnati Branch of the NAACP and local scholars and activists, the University of Cincinnati will sponsor a public program related to the history of public education in Cincinnati and civic engagement. In addition, a public exhibition will be designed and installed focusing on the lead up to and results of the Bronson case.

“This project aligns with the larger strategic directions of the University of Cincinnati and the Libraries,” said Liz Kiscaden, dean and university librarian. “The University of Cincinnati’s Next Lives Here strategic directions make a commitment to our community, particularly Cincinnati’s local public schools. In addition, making this collection widely available meets our goal to enrich and curate library collections that enable intellectual endeavors and to expand the visibility of diverse perspectives and voices.”

The grant received by ARB is part of $4 million historical records project grants awarded as part of the National Archives grant program.

Announcing “The Bone Doctor’s Concerto: Music, Surgery, and the Pieces in Between” book launch August 8

Posted on by

Join UC Libraries and the University of Cincinnati Press for an unforgettable afternoon with Dr. Alvin H. Crawford, MD as he launches his new book “The Bone Doctor’s Concerto: Music, Surgery, and the Pieces in Between.”

Date: Tuesday, August 8, 2023 
Time: 12:00 PM – 1:30 PM
Location: Donald C. Harrison Health Sciences Library | Stanley J. Lucas Board Room (MSB E005HA)
 
A buffet lunch will be provided. This event is free and open to all. RSVP is required.

The Book Launch is an in-person event, however, a Zoom link will be provided to maximize attendance and create a hybrid event for those interested. Please register to indicate your desire to attend in person or remotely.

About the Book

the bone doctor's concerto book cover


The story of one of Cincinnati’s most influential leaders in medicine.

Born in Memphis, Tennessee in 1939, Dr. Alvin Crawford grew up and attended medical school in a segregated world. Beginning with his early life in Orange Mound—a self-contained community for freed slaves established in the 1890s—Crawford’s autobiography describes his flirtation with a music degree and time spent playing in jazz bands through the segregated South. In 1960, Crawford began his ground-breaking medical career with his entrance into the University of Tennessee College of Medicine, becoming the school’s first African American student. After completing his medical training and traveling the world as a surgeon for the Navy, Crawford found himself in Cincinnati, where he established the Comprehensive Pediatric Orthopedic Clinic at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital and Medical Center, the first in the region.

Underlying this story are the systemic and very personal incidents of racism Crawford experienced throughout his career. His autobiography is a personal account of segregation, integration, ambition, hard work and taking risks. “The Bone Doctor’s Concerto” is published by the University of Cincinnati Press.

alvin crawford

Alvin Crawford is professor emeritus in the UC College of Medicine Department of Orthopaedic Surgery with more than 35 years of clinical experience in diagnosis and treatment in orthopedics. He is the recently retired founding director of the Crawford Spine Center at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital and Medical Center and a renowned expert in spinal deformities and neurofibromatosis, a genetic disorder often associated with scoliosis. He is the first Black president of the Scoliosis Research Society and has been recognized in “America’s Best Doctors” since 1996.

And be sure to check out…

The Opening Doors: Contemporary African American Academic Surgeons traveling exhibit hosted by UC Libraries and the US National Library of Medicine.

Where:  Donald C. Harrison Health Sciences Library | E-Level Exhibit Gallery

July 17, 2023 – Aug 11, 2023

opening doors flyer

Read Source for the news, events, people and happenings in UC Libraries

Posted on by
source cover

Read Source, the online newsletter, to learn about the news, events, people and happenings in UC Libraries.

In this issue of Source, Lori Harris writes about some of the changes that have occurred this past year as she has served as interim dean and university librarian. We announce Elizabeth Kiscaden as the next dean and university librarian, as well as a new digital collection in honor of Dr. Lucy Orinthia Oxley, the first African American to graduate from the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine.

Student workers are a key component to UC Libraries success, which is why the UC Libraries Student Worker Scholarship Fund was established. We announce the most recent winners of this scholarship. We spotlight the College of Engineering Library and look back at the successful inaugural year of Poetry Stacked. We interview ChatGPT to get its opinions about its potential role in libraries and academia and hype the new, and very popular, library stickers.

Read these articles, as well as past issues, on the website. To receive Source via e-mail, contact melissa.norris@uc.edu to be added to the mailing list.

Prominent civil rights attorney Al Gerhardstein donates papers to the University of Cincinnati

Posted on by

Al Gerhardstein, noted Cincinnati civil rights attorney, has donated to the University of Cincinnati Libraries’ Archives and Rare Books Library, papers documenting his nearly 50-year career in civil rights litigation and advocacy, with focuses in reproductive rights, prisoner’s rights, policing, employment discrimination, and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights.

Material to be found in the extensive collection includes briefs, pleadings, depositions, trial transcriptions, newspaper, magazine and journal articles, as well as correspondence and speeches spanning Gerhardstein’s career and notable legal cases. There are 184 boxes available for research, with 45 more boxes sealed under court order.

supreme court letter

Excerpt from letter notifying Mr. Gerhardstein that his case was entered into the Supreme Court.

Prominent cases in the collection include:

  • Obergefell v. Hodges, the 2015 U.S. Supreme Court case establishing marriage equality for same-sex couples in all 50 states. Gerhardstein represented Jim Obergefell in this fight to be recognized as the husband of John Arthur.
  • Planned Parenthood Association of Cincinnati v. Project Jericho, et al., which was a lawsuit against anti-abortion groups for their continued harassment of women seeking abortion and their providers, after a member of one of the groups firebombed the Margaret Sanger Center abortion clinic in 1985.
  • Prisoner rights lawsuit in response to the 1993 Lucasville Prison riots, where Gerhardstein represented inmates against prison officials for failure to protect them during the riot and the forces that caused the riot.
  • Litigation to declare unconstitutional Article XII, which was voted into the Cincinnati City Charter in 1993 and actively prohibited Cincinnati from protecting LGBT people from discrimination.
  • Creation of the Collaborative Agreement as a partnership between the ACLU, Black United Front, the city of Cincinnati and the Cincinnati Fraternal Order of Police, which re-oriented the philosophy of policing in Cincinnati towards a Community Problem Oriented Policing (CPOP) model. It was the result of a civil rights action filed on behalf of a class of African American citizens of Cincinnati based on discriminatory policing including racial profiling, excessive force and disproportionate arrests of African Americans. The success of the Collaborative Agreement made Cincinnati a national role model for police reform.

Continue reading →

Read Source for the news, events, people and happenings in UC Libraries

Posted on by

source graphic

Read Source, the online newsletter, to learn about the news, events, people and happenings in UC Libraries.

In this issue of Source, we bid goodbye and fond farewell to Dean Xuemao Wang as he ends his tenure at the University of Cincinnati. We celebrate the announcement of Lori Harris as interim dean and university librarian and ask her some questions about her aspirations and hopes for her new role. We feature the work of P. Alfred Marchand, one of the first Black librarians in the United States, and the design work of 1911 UC graduate Valentine Barker. Finally, we spotlight the excellent resources and services available in the College of Education, Criminal Justice, and Human Services (CECH) Library.

Read these articles, as well as past issues, on the website. To receive Source via e-mail, contact melissa.norris@uc.edu to be added to the mailing list.

 

New digital display for 1911 graduate Valentine Barker

Posted on by

 

A collection donated to the College of Engineering and Applied Science Library is now  a new digital exhibit. The Valentine Barker collection provides a snapshot of technical education and advertisement work in the early twentieth century. The collection was recently digitized by the UC Libraries’ Digital Collections Team. 

Valentine Barker was a 1911 graduate of the Ohio Mechanics Institute comprehensive art program.  The Ohio Mechanics Institute (OMI), founded in 1828, is one of CEAS’ source institutions and provided vital technical education during the early development of the city. Beginning in 1901 OMI served as a technical high school, Barker attended as a student of the technical high school.  

A selection of Barker’s talents and a brief overview of OMI history can be found in the digital exhibit.

CEAS library art collection

Posted on by

The College of Engineering and Applied Science (CEAS) Library recently added labels to their collection of artwork. Visit the library at 850 Baldwin Hall and view part of the CEAS art collection. Many paintings adorning the library walls are from the early twentieth century and capture the prominent change of the beginning of that century in Cincinnati.  

The start of the CEAS art collection: 

Continue reading →

P. Alfred Marchand, Lunch Talk

Posted on by

P. Alfred Marchand was one of the first African American librarians in the United States and possibly the Midwest region. He worked at the Cincinnati Hospital from ~1873-1918. Although Marchand was highly valued by the medical staff at the Cincinnati Hospital, there was also controversy surrounding his unwarranted dismissal then reinstatement following protest by medical staff. 

Please join Leah Everitt, research assistant in the Donald C. Harrison Health Sciences Library (HSL), on Thursday, June 16, 2022 from 12:00-1:00pm in the Stanley J. Lucas, MD Board Room of the Winkler Center, to hear about archival materials that reveal much more about Marchand’s academic accomplishments and his time at the Cincinnati Hospital. Please note that lunch will be served.

UC Libraries resources in celebration of Black History Month

Posted on by

Throughout February, we shared UC Libraries resources and collections in celebration of Black History Month. Below is a list of those highlights, as well as others, so you may continue exploring and learning Black history throughout the year.

Theodore M. Berry Papers Project
An exhibit highlighting the 2010 project to completely process the papers of Theodore Moody Berry, Cincinnati’s first African mayor.

Louise Shropshire: An Online Exhibition
An online exhibit featuring Louise Shropshire a Cincinnati Civil Rights pioneer and composer.

Marian Spencer: Fighting for Equality in Cincinnati
An alumna of the University of Cincinnati (Class of 1942), Marian Spencer fought for Civil Rights in Cincinnati for nearly seventy years. This exhibit examines her career and her papers at the Archives and Rare Books Library.

The Colored Citizen
Published in Cincinnati sporadically from the height of the Civil War in 1863 until approximately 1869, The Colored Citizen was edited by a group of African American citizens from Midwestern cities, including Cincinnati. It was a paper with general news, but with a focus on the political, economic, and cultural affairs that had an impact on African Americans of the age. The Archives and Rare Books Library hold one issue of this paper.

Phillis Wheatley
In 1773, at the age of 20, Wheatley published Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral, making her the first published African-American poet.

Lucy Oxley
Source article highlighting Lucy Oxley, MD, the first person of color ever to receive a medical degree from the College of Medicine. Continue reading →

Standing in solidarity against systemic racism

Posted on by

The University of Cincinnati Libraries supports our colleagues from the American Library Association and the Association of Research Libraries in their statements and actions against racism and violence perpetrated against black men and women and all people of color. We agree with President Neville Pinto’s message “that the time to act is now.” As libraries, we provide access to resources and information professionals so that citizens can educate themselves on how to contribute to meaningful change and combat systemic racism.

stamped from the beginningBelow is a short list of UC Libraries resources. While some do require UC affiliation, there are others that are open access. It contains a mix of current and historical perspectives as this is not a new issue our country is confronting, but the time to listen and to learn is now. This list is not meant to be comprehensive, but a starting point for education and conversation.  

Videos

Current exhibit on display in the Walter C. Langsam Library

women of the movement graphic

The Urban Studies Collection of the Archives and Rare Books Library holds information on two of the women featured in the exhibit, Louise Shropshire, originator of the Civil Rights anthem “We Shall Overcome,” and Marian Spencer, local Civil Rights icon, as well as Theodore “Ted” Berry, the first African American mayor of Cincinnati.

The University of Cincinnati Press

  • Issues in Race and Society, biannual journal distinguishes itself as an interdisciplinary, comprehensive, and global examination of the increasingly racial and racialized world that connects us all.