Project Conclusion

Sadly, this is my final blog post as the project ended on August 15th. I have learned so much, met so many amazing people, and had an incredible time rediscovering freed African Americans, and their stories, from such an important time in American history. The lives and stories of African Americans in this country and the struggles they faced in the past, as well as the present, are an intrinsic part of America's historic quilt and our Nation's public narrative. These men and women single-handedly built most of the South, all without any recompense. Before the end of the Civil War when slavery was abolished it was only at the will of their "masters" that they were released, but this was a rarity and only a dream for most enslaved people. The names found in this project were of people who came from as close as Kentucky to as far away as South Carolina to live their lives as free members of society. While working on this project I decided to create a Story Map based on my findings. The map is broken down into individual counties and allows the viewer to see from where the freed men, women, and children were coming. The story accompanying the map also goes a little more in-depth than I have provided in this blog.

Working papers for the project.

After completion, the total number of names of Free Blacks from the counties of Champaign, Clark, Greene, Logan, and Montgomery equaled 427. There must have certainly been more, but, unfortunately, those records have been either lost to time or remain hidden from me. The county with the highest number of records was Greene County, revealing 184 Manumission, Emancipation, or Freedom Paper records. Logan County was a close second with 163 records.

The flags of America, Ohio, and Logan County over a county building.

The county with the least amount of records, surprisingly, was Montgomery County. I was only able to find the names of 14 free Blacks for Montgomery County, which is a considerably low number. Speaking with the Tina Ratcliff, Records Manager for the Montgomery County Records Center and Archives, led me to the conclusion that the lack of records could be due to the flooding that downtown Dayton was subject to prior to proper dam placement, plus the Great Flood of 1913. Just above Montgomery County was Clark County with 28 records.

Downtown Dayton seen from the observation point at Woodland Cemetery.

Once again, I would like to thank the Ohio Historical Records Advisory Board (OHRAB) for allowing me to work on this incredible project. I would also like to thank the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) for the grant they awarded OHRAB to make this project possible.
I hope you all enjoyed this journey as much as I did. Thanks for reading and be good!