Queens of Queen City: Cincinnati Stories of African American Women

2950 Gilbert Avenue,Cincinnati OH 45206

21 February, 2021

Description

Black women in Ohio broke barriers and laid a foundation for future generations. Learn more about Cincinnati's own Queens of the Heartland. Since the 1800s, Ohio was at the heart of social change led by African American women. Not only was it was the first free state established from the Northwest Territory, it was home to some of the earliest universities for African Americans. Ohio drew Black women from across the country who found there wasn’t space for them in their chosen professions, in education, or in society at large, and so they claimed that space here. These queens broke barriers, but they are more than a list of firsts. They collaborated and formed collectives, they were friends and teachers, one generation of bricklayers after another. Meet some of these architects of change, like poet and abolitionist Frances Watkins Harper, educator and suffragist Hallie Quinn Brown, author Lucretia Newman Coleman, and civil rights leader Marian Spencer. About the speaker: Hadley Drodge is the assistant curator of the National Afro-American Museum and Cultural Center in Wilberforce, Ohio. Her recent exhibits cover topics such as Dayton Funk music, African American Ohio women, and the Randolph Freedpeople. She was an invited contributor to the Ohio Humanities publication, Pathways magazine, in 2020 and is co-teaching the Historical Interpretation and Exhibits class at Wright State University in 2021. She lives with her family in Huffman’s Historic District in Dayton.