Category: Policies

“Having Given Them Bayonets, We Will Not Withhold the Ballot”- Republicans and Black Suffrage in Reconstruction Ohio, 1865-1867 by Jacob T Mach

“Having Given Them Bayonets, We Will Not Withhold the Ballot”- Republicans and Black Suffrage in Reconstruction Ohio, 1865-1867

by Jacob T Mach, 2020, Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, History.

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Ohio politics during the Reconstruction era has received sparse treatment by historians. Not until 1970 with Felice Bonadio’s North of Reconstruction was there a monograph solely dedicated to Ohio politics during the era. Robert Sawrey wrote his Dubious Victory in 1992, but still the historiography on Reconstruction Ohio remains dramatically underdeveloped. In Ohio, the question of African American suffrage was the single most divisive issue facing politicians during the era. Radical Republicans brought a referendum before the people of Ohio in 1867 to change the state constitution to protect the suffrage rights of both white and black males above the age of 21. The measure failed 216,987 votes (45.9 percent) to 255,340 (54.1 percent) votes. The failure of the suffrage amendment disheartened many Radical Republicans across Ohio and the rest of the North, yet Ohio Republicans managed to elicit more support for suffrage than most states in the North. Such support did not arise randomly; it intentionally developed over a three-year period beginning after the Civil War. Two primary research questions drive this project: 1) Did suffrage become a crucial issue in the state of Ohio earlier than the existing historiography suggests, 2) why were Ohio radicals able to generate more support for black suffrage within the Republican party than in other states in the North? By showing that Republican support (through Congressional voting records, public support via speeches and letters, and by Republican-sympathetic papers throughout the state) for black suffrage existed in significant numbers in 1865 (prior to 1866-1867, as Bonadio, Sawrey and others suggest) in both the Western Reserve and in other parts of the state and only continued to grow until the referendum in the fall of 1867, this project will argue that black suffrage was not only being pursued by radicals, but ultimately by the vast majority of the Republican party. Ohio’s inability to secure black suffrage with overwhelming Republican support will in turn help to explain why other northern states achieved even less success in their pursuit of black suffrage.

In a State of Access: Ohio Higher Education, 1945 – 1990 by Jonathan Tyler Baker

In a State of Access: Ohio Higher Education, 1945 – 1990
by Jonathan Tyler Baker, 2020, Doctor of Education, Miami University, Educational Leadership.
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In a State of Access is a historical study about the way public higher education in Ohio became both generally accessible to nearly every citizen while also offering elite undergraduate and graduate programs. This project grapples with the question of how national, state and regional factors – from the mid-1940s through the end of the 20th century – influenced the way Ohio’s leaders viewed the purpose of public higher education and influenced whether Ohio’s leaders chose to focus on making public higher education more selective or accessible. State leaders initially balked at the idea of funding public higher education. When they did decide to make the investment, ideological battles, economic stagnation and the state’s budget deficit continually influenced how state leaders viewed the purpose of public higher education. As a result, state leaders never succeeded in building a system of public higher education that reflected a clearly defined, well-organized purpose. This dissertation is the first full-length study about contemporary public higher education in Ohio and one of the few case studies of any state’s system of higher education. As the public and politicians at the state and national level pay more attention to the accessibility of higher education, and the role of a college degree in a globalized, service economy, a case study of Ohio helps us to better understand why public higher education is still struggling with problems over access.

The Shame of the Buckeye State: Journalistic Complacency on Episodic Lynching in Ohio from 1872 to 1932

The Shame of the Buckeye State: Journalistic Complacency on Episodic Lynching in Ohio from 1872 to 1932
by Rounkles M Claire, 2020, Master of Science (MS), Ohio University,
Journalism (Communication)
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The lynching era in Ohio lasted from 1803 to 1937. During these years thirty-five people died at the hands of a lynch mob and seventy-nine escaped from a mob’s clutches. This thesis situates the history of lynching in Ohio from 1872 to 1932 and discusses the issue of complacent journalism in the Ohio press through a study of twenty-four cases of white-on-white lynching and racial terror lynching. This thesis shows that lynching was employed as a means to enact fear to keep Black Ohioans in a marginalized position and prevent them from prospering economically or politically. The author also argues that journalists were not objective bystanders but were key to the social voice and national conversation that accepted the practice of lynching in America. By utilizing the concept of critical race theory, the author shows that the racist ideal of Whiteness was able to become hidden by seemingly objective reporting, thus allowing the mainstream press to accept the practice of lynching without the guilt of unlawful “justice.” There is also a paucity of research on Harry C. Smith, a Black journalist who pushed for the first anti-lynching law in Ohio. As such, this research aims to make a significant impact not only on the literature involving northern lynchings but also in the history of Ohio and the need to understand its dark past. In 2020 this historical research hold saliency regarding the racial violence which continues today in America.

“Honoring Our Past Masters: The Golden Age of Cleveland Art, 1900–1945’’ WRHS Review by Steven Litt


WRHS: August Biehle, “Study for Great Lakes Exposition Mural,” 1936, watercolor on paper, 20 x30 inches, signed lower right

“Honoring Our Past Masters: The Golden Age of Cleveland Art, 1900–1945’’ WRHS Review by Steven Litt
A new exhibition in the Western Reserve Historical Society’s Cleveland History Center in University Circle, entitled “Honoring Our Past Masters: The Golden Age of Cleveland Art, 1900–1945,’’ argues for greater awareness of and admiration for hometown artists.
December 12, 2021
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11 years, 2 executives: Is Cuyahoga County’s charter meeting expectations? Plain Dealer Nov 11, 2021

Plain Dealer November 11, 2021:
11 years, 2 executives: Is Cuyahoga County’s charter meeting expectations?
By Courtney Astolfi, cleveland.com and Kaitlin Durbin
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Cuyahoga County Executive Armond Budish on the day he announced his candidacy at the new Ernst & Young Tower in Cleveland on Thursday, May 30, 2013. Budish would go on to succeed Ed FitzGerald, in background on left. On right in background is Rep. Marcy Kaptur. (Lisa DeJong/The Plain Dealer)The Plain Dealer

 

Video from “Cultural and Political Sources of Cleveland’s Great Cultural and Civic Institutions” w/Prof David Hammack 3.23.2021

 

TUESDAY, MARCH 23, 2021 AT 7 PM EDT
“Cultural and Political Sources of Cleveland’s Great Cultural and Civic Institutions”
On March 23 at 7pm, join David Hammack, CWRU Hiram C. Haydn Professor of History Emeritus, who will speak to this theme:

Why is Greater Cleveland home to so many notable private institutions? The Cleveland Orchestra and the Cleveland Museum of Art both make persuasive claims to be among the very best in the United States. University Hospitals and the Cleveland Clinic give the region two nationally-notable medical systems. The city’s religious and nondenominational social welfare charities have for more than 100 years been national leaders in raising money and developing effective responses to new challenges. University Circle constitutes a university-cultural district surpassed by just a handful of cities in the United States. This lecture will explore the cultural, economic, and political sources of the region’s extraordinary private institutions.
The recording is here:
Cosponsored by CWRU Siegal Lifelong Learning, Cleveland History Center and The League of Women Voters of Greater Cleveland
Teaching Cleveland Digital