Discovering Black History in Southeast Ohio

The Marietta Register , March 28, 1867 The suit of William D. Myers vs. William Devol, Alfred Marshall and John Gearhart, Trustees of Muskingum township, for rejecting plaintiff's vote at the last October Election on account of his color, went to the jury in our Common Pleas this week, who gave a verdict of $120 against Marshall and Gearhart. The case of I. F. Norman against the same parties, for the same cause, was submitted to the Court and $25 given against all three of the Trustees. The attorneys were Harte & Stafford, and Alban for plaintiffs; Oldham, Follett and Loomis for defendants. It was proved that both Myers and Norman were legal voters, each having a majority of white blood - voters under the "Democratic" Constitution as construed by a "Democratic" Court. Why cannot Democrats stand up to their own laws?

Library of Congress photo.  Frances Ellen Watkins Harper was an African American author, educator, and activist, well-known in the mid-19th century for her lectures, poetry, novels, and essays on the themes of abolitionism and women’s rights. An original copy of her highly successful 1857 book, “Poems on Miscellaneous Subjects,” is held in the Stimson Collection at the Marietta College library. In December of 1860, Frances spent a week in Marietta, lecturing at the Washington County Courthouse and at the Methodist Church on Putnam Street, where “a room full of hearers” learned more about “the Progress of Freedom.” She was described in local newspapers as “a woman of considerable talent.”  Home News  [Marietta, Ohio] , Saturday, December 15, 1860 "F rances Ellen Watkins, a colored lady, will give a free lecture at the Methodist Church, Putnam street, on Monday evening next. She is a woman of considerable talent, so we are informed, and has written and published a number of...