A Brief History of Lincoln Heights
praise of a small place.
“ever wonder why |so much asphalt was laid | in so little space | probably so we would forget | the Iroquois, Algonquin| and Mohicans who could caress | the earth”
-Nikki Giovanni “Walking Down Park.”
(Cincinnati Inquirer, Newspapers.com)
On 2/7/2025- I called my auntie to talk about our garden, both of us are stopped when our phones erupt, signals, tags, dms all about Nazis marching in Lincoln Heights, neighboring Cincinnati. About how the cops protected the interlopers, most of which are not even from the area or Ohio. We all start to prepare for bail support, reinforcement etc. Then just as fast as it started, a good flag fire was lit and the Nazis moral crashed as they realized, this was not the place to play. Running off as cowards do.
The people of Lincoln Heights have always fought for their right to remain Black, Proud, and Free.
Established officially in the early 1920s and while the Ohio Black Laws were “officially repealed,” in 1849, after seventy-one years the standards set in those laws continued to be leveraged against Black Ohioans.
Whether on paper or not, certain “rituals,” like paying a county Clerk or the police to remain un-harassed or barely harassed in other Ohio towns. Documentation of this phenomenon disappeared when the Black Laws stopped being put on the books, but the practice of financial leverage against Black families remained. Especially any daring to enter the middle class. My family told me about it in Northeast Ohio, and elders in southern Ohio confirm.
Lincoln Heights was created because West End in Cincinnati was historically segregated, and that was a mess. Corrupt landlords, hyper policing, and the general attitude of white Ohioans created a situation of overcrowding, leading to ill health, upticks in intra-communal crimes, as well as regularly undocumented hate crimes. This led to the deep desire for an unobserved life. As the KKK made its second rise around this time, those Black families living on the Ohio River knew all too well, Queen City was built by them but not for them.
A Proctor & Gamble heir named Marianna Matthews was a philanthropist. She had watched what was going on in West End, specifically seeking to bring relief to Black Cincinnati residents. I cannot attest to her character, but this was an effective way to use some of that dead settler grandpappy money. Matthews founded and sat on the board for Norris, Home Inc, then created a partnership for materials with the Lewis Lumber Mill. Founded in 1863, this partnership set Lewis Lumber Mill for a type of longevity that keeps them open today. Though there are no official notes on this: Lewis Lumber Mill was how Black residents of Cincinnati heard about and then began buying plots. Probably because that’s a place where a lot of Black people worked. Marianna had wanted this to be a Black only neighborhood, over the next 25 years Lincoln Heights became one of the best planned, Black towns in the country. Others existed but had no white support, funding, or a lack of places that would sell them materials.
Eventually becoming it’s own thriving economy, before incorporation- struggling after I-75 was built in 1940. Then rising again in the 1960-70s to being one of the US’s wealthiest Black towns.
The issue was, there was still a lack of public utilities. All due to the fact that they were not incorporated, and even rich white lady money could not sway the larger racist administration at play. Getting the development started took a full seven years while Hamilton county drug everyone around. Neighborhoods for whites sprang up quickly, the land they bought becoming incorporated without hassle. While Lincoln went without sidewalks, sewage, electricity.
Lincoln Heights finally became incorporated in 1946, at the exact same time that the Cincinnati Police department bought a 30-acre firing range, directly on the northern border of the neighborhood. The square mile neighborhood, subjected to practices nearly 300 days out of the year- when they do not even vote in Cincinnati. The citizens are still finding a way to thrive on one tenth of what they had originally petitioned for, under the barrage of nearly constant gun fire.
Despite the never-ending roadblocks, restrictions, redlining, and infringement of liberty, Lincoln Heights developed the first all African American school district in Cincinnati. Possibly anywhere. Columbus City Schools opened the first all African American public school, at a private residence, because in 1853 it was declared that schools had to remain segregated, but Black children still had to be provided an education. Before that under the Black Laws issued in 1829, African American citizens were barred from using all public institutions- public schools were on that list. What is particularly groundbreaking about Lincoln Heights, is that in 1929- before anywhere else the township created the Woodlawn Schools. Which not only enrolled Black students but also employed Black educators. Other districts in Dayton, Springfield, and Cincinnati rarely hired African American teachers- meaning that Black students rarely had a non-white teacher. Cincinnati in particular resisted school desegregation, a goal set by the Arnett Law of 1887 for seventy-nine years before Brown vs The Board Of Education of Topeka.
“Black teachers were gainfully employed prior to the Brown ruling – and, beyond that, they were respected pillars in their communities. Job security was present for Black educators in the South, because the South made sure that schools were segregated. While the South was blatant with their racism, the North was covert in their racist tactics. Black children needed to receive an education, but no law guaranteed the employment of Black teachers, so Black educators had fewer opportunities to teach.” (Coleman, pg. 27)
Woodlawn Schools was hiring only members of the African American diaspora to teach students like themselves. Going far to hire and ensure that Black educators had support so they too would become invested in the district long term. Housing dorms were built for young African American graduates taking their first jobs out of college. Many, deciding to stay for the rest of their careers and lives.
In the oral histories section of Coleman’s dissertation paper, a few of these teachers told their stories. Becoming integral to the families they welcomed, and the confidence of young Black children for generations. This tiny teacup shaped block gave us: Nikki Giovanni, the Isley Brothers, Dr. Charles Folds, the historian Carl Westmoreland, Mae Faggs an Olympic Gold medalist, Rev. Damon Lynch Jr the Civil Rights leader, and Charles Spurling. All of which I will credit to a fully Black school district, and a supportive Black community.
Three days ago, masked Nazis walked their streets- Cincinnati cops, who pollute the neighborhood with never ending sound and terror, stood with them. A police force that does not patrol, protect, and cannot be voted against by the Lincoln Heights residents. Yet, invaded, it was those same residents that pushed the fascists back, snatching their flag and burning it while laughing together. In other videos I saw an SUV pulling up blasting music over the slurs, the driver singing at the top of his lungs. Face fully uncovered, he laughed and heckled the haters. The white men who hid their identities ran away, somebody had smashed their precious jeep’s windows. A handful of creeps scattered by neighbors.
The community united can never be divided. Put that on Lincoln Heights.
Sources
· https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/48225/walking-down-park
https://educ8drebel.medium.com/lincoln-heights-lessons-from-the-forgotten-black-wall-street-f670b2177c07
