Research Guides: Racial Justice Resources for Activists, Advocates &amp; Allies: UC history

How to use this guide: UC history

UC history

The University of Cincinnati (UC) is a predominantly white institution with a long history of accommodating anti-Black racism. UC’s Irate8, an award-winning student activist group, provides a brief overview of the most egregious (documented) examples in their “Let Us Help You See” video (YouTube, 2015). From Charles McMicken’s 1861 bequeathment to found a college for “white boys and girls;” to the Martin Luther King trash parties in the 1980s; the UC Police killings of Lorenzo Collin (1997), Kelly Brinson (2010), and Everette Howard (2011); the racist cartoons with no accountability (2013); and finally the UC Police murder of Samuel DuBose (2015) that ignited their organizing efforts, the Irate8 compiled important history to help “you see” racial injustice at UC and mobilize for change While the Irate8 achieved important milestones (increased funding and resources for minority serving programs, the inclusion of a DEI statement for all UC job applicants, and more), their organization dissolved as its leaders graduated. As the late 2010s neared the 2020s, cell phone recordings of police killing unarmed Black Americans continued to elevate awareness of anti-Black police brutality in the United States. Each tragedy ignited local and regional protests, demonstrations, and organizing efforts. The May 2020 murder of George Floyd was the last straw: it ignited protests, demonstrations, and organizing efforts across the nation and world. At the University of Cincinnati, the Black Round Table, Undergraduate Student Government, and others produced fresh sets of demands to UC’s president. Staff and faculty organizations produced resolutions and statements of their own, calling for action and committing to do better. (Source: CARA)

UC List of Demands by UC groups: Black Roundtable, Irate8, other activists & scholars at UC

UC History: notable figures and heritage

African American heritage at UC
Donald Spencer papers, 1935-1942
Personal papers of Donald Spencer during his years as a student at the University of Cincinnati including materials related to the Quadres, Fresh Painters, and Kappa Alpha Psi. The collection includes photographs, programs for plays, newsletters, and correspondence.
Educated Pioneers: Black Women at the University of Cincinnati, 1897-1940
Despite its long history, Black Americans have not had much access to U.C.'s halls until recent times. However, as early as 1891 some Blacks did receive degrees from this institution. The history of these early Black pioneers deserves attention and this paper provides descriptions of the educational experience of Cincinnati Black women attending the University between 1897 and 1940.
Henry Malachi Griffin: The first African-American to earn a UC undergraduate degree
The first African-American to earn a UC undergraduate degree
Lucy Oxley MD: ‘A pioneer and servant leader’
Lucy Orintha Oxley was the lone woman in the graduating class. She also was the only African-American clutching a fresh diploma, the first person of color ever to receive a medical degree from the College of Medicine. Since the medical school’s first commencement on April 4, 1821, more than 5,600 medical degrees were handed out at 116 graduation exercises. Lucy was the first of her race to become a graduate of the UC College of Medicine.
Making Black History: Verna Williams inspires as first Black dean of UC College of Law
Williams is the first Black dean of the University of Cincinnati's College of Law, an institution that's been around for nearly 200 years.
Marian Spencer
Marian began her public fight for civil rights in 1952 when she led the desegregation effort at Cincinnati’s Coney Island Amusement Park. Her children, after hearing an ad for an event in the park, asked their mother if they could attend. Spencer called Coney Island to inquire about the event and whether or not it was open to all children. After a representative of the park admitted that the event was not open to black children, Spencer took action. She went with her children to Coney Island and, after being turned away by an armed guard, filed a lawsuit against the park with the help of the NAACP. Spencer led a biracial team of 28 witnesses to victory in the case and desegregated the park.
The Quadres
The Quadres, a highly visible theater and musical group. Its impact was felt in the subsequent integration of the student newspaper, the band and the University YMCA Council. Quadres also attempted to integrate the all-white student council by putting Willard Stargel, a popular basketball and football player, on the ballot in 1942. Although he lost, then Quadres President Marian Spencer recalled that his campaign was a sign of progress.
Theodore M. Berry papers
Theodore “Ted” Berry (1905-2000) was the first African American mayor in Cincinnati, served the Lyndon Baines Johnson presidential administration in civil rights programs, and was an active attorney for the NAACP.
The University of Cincinnati Black History Trail
Created as a group project in visiting assistant professor Anne Delano Steinert’s African American History in Public course, the 'University of Cincinnati’s Black History Walking Tour' will take you through some of the most important people, places, and events in UC’s Black history. It is designed to be followed as a self-guided tour using a a mobile device through the free app PocketSights and can be downloaded in the App Store or on Google Play.
William H. Parham, Esq.
William H. Parham was the first African-American graduate of UC in 1874

UC history web resources

'A conversation that never ends’: Despite commitment to diversity, UC increases white faculty
In recent years, officials at the University of Cincinnati (UC) have increasingly emphasized the importance of diversity and inclusion on campus. However, an investigation by The News Record (TNR) reveals that over the past five years, faculty at UC has become increasingly white, university records show.
Charles McMicken's Legacy
Former Cincinnati health commissioner's discrimination case against UC goes to trial
A discrimination case against the University of Cincinnati is moving to trial after a former Cincinnati health commissioner says the university wouldn't interview him for an associate professor role because he is a Black man.
Founded On Slavery: How Does Higher Education Make Amends?
Charles McMicken is a name plastered on UC's College of Arts and Sciences building and street signs.University Archivist Kevin Grace says for the past 40 years since he's been at UC, students have asked, " 'Why are we celebrating the founder of the university when he was a racist?' " he says. "We had a very simplistic view of this. It was usually based by the students and by us on Charles McMicken's will."
Lawsuit alleges employment discrimination by officials at Lindner College of Business
A lawsuit filed in federal court by a professor at the University of Cincinnati (UC) alleges that officials at the Lindner College of Business engaged in discriminatory hiring practices. Court documents chronicle a pattern of alleged discrimination by college administrators dating back more than a dec
Officials failed at addressing racism on campus (The News Record Oct 2, 2013)
follow-up to "Racist sketch circulates in A&S college " Top officials — including University of Cincinnati President Santa Ono, Provost Beverly Davenport and Student Body President Joe Blizzard — released a vague statement urging the university community to practice civility. In the statement, the cartoon was described as “crude,” but never racist or derogatory. When editors from The News Record called faculty members and officials about the cartoon, several sources declined to be identified when they said they were “outraged and sickened” by the cartoon.
The “Race” to Inclusion on Campus
Many don’t know that back in the 1930s-40s, UC had a civil rights movement of their own that predates the revolutionary movement that shaped the country. We’re here to tell that story through Marian Spencer, Donald Spencer, Willard Stargel’s courageous efforts to make the campus a more equal place for everyone.
Racist letter sparks conversations about hate crimes at UC (News Record)
Logan Johnson, graduate student trustee for the University of Cincinnati (UC) Board of Trustees (BOT), Wednesday posted a letter on Instagram received by her academic advisor, Antar A. Tichavakunda, expressing vehemently racist and genocidal views, sparking university-wide shock and condemnation.
Racist sketch circulates in A&S college
Ronald Jackson, the University of Cincinnati College of Arts and Sciences dean, and Carol Tonge, A&S Recruitment and Retention Initiatives assistant dean, were derogatorily depicted in a cartoon posted around campus and circulated among faculty members in an email
UC's board votes to take slave owner's name off its College of Arts and Sciences
The University of Cincinnati Board of Trustees unanimously voted to formally discontinue the association of a slaveowner's name with its largest college.
UC Fails to Respond to Student Demands
University of Cincinnati senior Kish Richardson helped produce a list of demands for the UC Black Roundtable. Richardson and other students have presented the list to president Pinto.
University of Cincinnati students engage in discussion following racist letter sent to a faculty member (WLWT 11/10/22)
Students gathered at the University of Cincinnati to discuss racism on campus and to develop solutions Wednesday night. Last week, an anonymous letter addressed to a Black faculty member was posted to social media. The letter was filled with racist threats and hateful remarks.
Universities Studying Slavery (USS)
The University of Cincinnati has committed to examining the historical role of slavery on its campus. Provost Kristi Nelson announced that UC has joined Universities Studying Slavery (USS), a multi-institutional consortium, to investigate its historical connections to enslaved people.

UC Policing

Policing under fire: Revisiting UCPD's past misconduct amid nationwide calls for police reform
Nationwide protests have reignited calls for police reform at the University of Cincinnati (UC), forcing university officials to once again confront the institution's history of racially-biased and, at times, lethal policing.
Reform
The Office of Safety and Reform was created in 2015 following the officer-involved shooting of Samuel DuBose. Dr. Robin S. Engel, PhD, renowned criminal justice researcher, led the office as the Vice President of Safety and Reform. Dr. Engel was responsible for the Department of Public Safety and the reform efforts of the UC Police Division until the end of December 2018.
Samuel DuBose's Death in Cincinnati Points to Off-Campus Power of College Police
The shooting of Mr. DuBose, a black man, has prompted officials to reconsider a policy that allowed a university force to patrol an area far more complex than its campus.
Samuel Dubose (The Marshall Project)
A curated collection of links
The Shooting of Samuel DuBose (Harvard Review)
University Police Officer Shoots and Kills Non-University-Affiliated Motorist During Off-Campus Traffic Stop. Ohio not only permits private and public colleges and universities to “appoint” or “designate” campus police officers, but also vests those officers with full law enforcement power
Student Everette Howard fatally tasered by campus police at University of Cincinnati
Everette Howard, an 18-year-old southwest Ohio student, was finishing up his last summer class at University of Cincinnati's Upward Bound program when he died after a campus police officer used a taser on him early Sunday morning.

UC history: radiation experiments

American Mengele: Human Radiation Experiments
Most of us know something about the infamous goings-on at Tuskegee, where syphilis patients were allowed to die slow deaths so doctors might watch. This study/massacre used impoverished black men who had contracted syphilis, giving them a placebo instead of real medicine. But the human radiation experiments conducted from the late 1940s into the early ’70s were in many ways even worse. The most truly awful among them were the experiments that Dr. Eugene L. Saenger ran at Cincinnati General Hospital from 1960 to 1972. He was paid by the Department of Defense and his findings were used by several government agencies
He Used Black People As Guinea Pigs For Years – And The Government Paid For It
The government wanted to know how sustained radiation exposure would impact the combat effectiveness of soldiers in the field, and despite plenty of evidence to the contrary, Saenger thought radiation exposure could provide medical relief for cancer patients. The Department of Defense approved the grant, and in 1960 the tests began.
How the University of Cincinnati buries its sins
a blogger posted pictures of the overgrown memorial online. UC has since landscaped the area.
Martha Stephens Papers
The Cincinnati Radiation Experiments, 1960-1972. University Archives. UA-05-05 "In organizing these papers on the radiation experiments at UC, I have assumed that those interested in the subject will be acquainted with my book The Treatment: The Story of Those Who Died in the Cincinnati Radiation Tests (Duke University Press, 2002). Not everything in these papers will be self explanatory outside the context of the book, but some documents can certainly be read or understood on their own—the hearing transcripts, for instance, the newspaper clippings, most of the legal briefs, the publications of the researchers, and their reports over the years to the Defense Department."
Out-of-the-way memorial remembers Cincinnati patients who died in radiation testing Blog post leads to memorial being cleaned up
A blog post leads to a memorial being cleaned up.
Radiation, Race, and Recognition -Divya Kumar
A plaque erected to memorialize the patients in UC's whole-body radiation study experiments represents incomplete justice. To understand how that plaque came to be, it’s necessary to go back to 1960, when these experiments began under the leadership of UC physician Dr. Eugene Saenger. He and his colleagues received DOD funding to study the effects of whole-body radiation with the hopes of developing a blood or urine test to detect radiation exposure in the event of nuclear war. But their subjects of choice were cancer patients, who were deceived and misled into participating in the study under the guise of treatment. The subjects were recruited from Cincinnati General Hospital, one of the few hospitals available for Black and low-income Cincinnatians. As a result, more than 60% of the patients were Black, despite the fact that they made up only 26% of the city’s population at the time.

The treatment : the story of those who died in the Cincinnati radiation tests by Martha Stephens
Call Number: RA1231.R2 S726 2002
ISBN: 0822328119
Publication Date: 2002-01-23
Tthe story of one tragedy of medical research that stretched over eleven years and affected the lives of hundreds of people in an Ohio city. Thirty years ago the author, then an assistant professor of English, acquired a large set of little-known medical papers at her university. These documents told a grotesque story. Cancer patients coming to the public hospital on her campus were being swept into secret experiments for the U.S. military; they were being irradiated over their whole bodies as if they were soldiers in nuclear war. Of the ninety women and men exposed to this treatment, twenty-one died within a month of their radiations. Martha Stephens's report on these deaths led to the halting of the tests, but local papers did not print her charges, and for many years people in Cincinnati had no way of knowing that lethal experiments had taken place there. In 1994 other military tests were brought to light, and a yellowed copy of Stephens's original report was delivered to a television newsroom. In Ohio, major publicity ensued--at long last--and reached around the world. Stephens uncovered the names of the victims, and a legal action was filed against thirteen researchers and their institutions.

UC History: books

Keep on Fighting: the life and civil rights legacy of Marian A. Spencer by Dorothy H. Christenson; Mary E. Frederickson (Introduction by)
Call Number: F499.C553 S643 2015
ISBN: 9780821421710
Publication Date: 2015-07-15
Marian Alexander Spencer was born in 1920 in the Ohio River town of Gallipolis, Ohio, one year after the "Red Summer" of 1919 that saw an upsurge in race riots and lynchings. Following the example of her grandfather, an ex-slave and community leader, Marian joined the NAACP at thirteen and grew up to achieve not only a number of civic leadership firsts in her adopted home city of Cincinnati, but a legacy of lasting civil rights victories. Of these, the best known is the desegregation of Cincinnati's Coney Island amusement park. She also fought to desegregate Cincinnati schools and to stop the introduction of observers in black voting precincts in Ohio. Her campaign to raise awareness of industrial toxic-waste practices in minority neighborhoods was later adapted into national Superfund legislation. In 2012, Marian's friend and colleague Dot Christenson sat down with her to record her memories. The resulting biography not only gives us the life story of remarkable leader but encapsulates many of the twentieth century's greatest struggles and advances. Spencer's story will prove inspirational and instructive to citizens and students alike.