Which Ohio city has the strongest and most unified black community?  I recently attended the Dream Keeper MLK breakfast and was astonished at the unity of Cincinnati's black community from NKY to Forest Park. However I have no real knowledge of Cleveland, Columbus, Toledo, or Dayton's communities so I was hoping I could find answers here.

As far as Columbus African American community... Columbus' black community has some of the lowest poverty rates when compared to other cities.  Columbus has been voted by BET as the best city in the us for blacks to raise a family. 

Talking about Martin Luther King celebrations, Columbus has the largest Martin Luther King Day breakfast in the US.  Racial lines are not as visible in Columbus and while there are different areas of the city which are more black, Columbus' neighborhoods are much more of a black and white mix than many other neighborhoods in other cities.

^Agreed.

 

I think that tends to be the case with most of Columbus' ethnic communities. Since the city grew up so much later than its counterparts, there really isn't a "Little Mexico" or "Little Italy" in that there's a small dense tract where an ethnicity has decided to live. There are predominantly ethnic areas, such as the Northland neighborhood for the Somoli population, and Lincoln Park West for the Mexican population, but it's not completely homogeneous. Much the same can be said for the African American community.

 

The African American community isn't what it was in its heyday in Columbus, but I don't think it's ever really reached a low point. E. Long St. and much of the surrounding community was a hub of activity in its day, with countless well-known black entertainers visiting regularly. The area, while not completely void of life, has fallen into disrepair. However there have been many efforts to build new, affordable housing in the area, and several section-8 developments have been leveled and replaced with more liveable environments. The E. Long St. corridor is a focal point for renovation, mainly centered around the historic Lincoln Theater. I'll be frank, one of the current projects, a multi-use building on the edge of the King-Lincoln neighborhood that will house a police detective station, I don't think it a good use of money to help the area, but hopefully it work out in the end.

 

Currently Columbus' most problematic area in terms of violence in the African American community has been South Linden, but through community works projects and joint ventures between governments and private firms, work on cleaning up the area has been progressing, with the focal point being the Four Corners intersection along Cleveland Ave. The last open parcel of land is set to be developed this year, and all the new construction in the area is leased with a mix of national and local, community-owned businesses. 

 

As mentioned earlier, I think a big plus is the prominance of African American figureheads in Columbus that are willing to make an effort to continue to improve the community. In fact, there is another thread regarding Columbus' plan to try and curb the trend of "black-on-black" violence as well. Here's hoping the trend continues.

 

(Modified to change "5-Points" to "Four Corners.")

Well Im black and from Toledo so here goes:

 

Politically blacks here are unified, like Columbus we had a Black mayor, City Council, Superientent, Fire Chief etc but just recently the newly elected Mayor's political machine just about pushed them all out of power. Something like 68% of the people he fired in City Hall was African American (we're only 26% of the pop.). As for annual events there is the "MLK unity celebration" which usually gets bigger every year and the "African-American Festival". The Black Chamber of Commerce was recognized by the White House as the best in the country a few years back.Under former Mayor Ford (first black mayor) we had one of the most aggressive affirmative action programs in the state which required a large % of govt contracts to go to minority owned business for development (not subcontracting) but the actual development. Unfortunatley once the new Mayor came in he quickly dismatled it. There are problems with "black gangs" (as the neo-nazis called it) in North Toledo which needs to be dealt with. The city seems to be neglecting the area for the most part.

 

I think being "unified" is all in the eyes of the beholder but I will say the most thriving city for blacks in Ohio is the Columbus area. Not only did BET rate it as the best place, but blackenterprise.com rated it as the best city for blacks to live in outside the south. Ive been there and the city & people were nice, I may move there in the future. But I need a clearer definition on what you mean by "unified".

I would say Cleveland should be mentioned--- just look at the "black flag" flying atop of City Hall.

In terms of African-American history, Dayton is hard to top in Ohio (regarding the literature movement, the musical movement, working-class, abolitionists, first female black mayor, etc).  Cincinnati and Cleveland also have equally or more than their fare-share of African-American history (Carl Stokes/music/literature for Cleveland; underground railroad/abolitionist/music/literature for Cincinnati; etc).  But none of those three have such a cohesive and economically viable community as Columbus.  Columbus' perhaps is seemingly the least segregated metropolitan area in Ohio in terms of African-Americans (though if you look at facts, Columbus' east side is dominant; while Cincinnati is more integrated overall) and being touted by BET, Jet Magazine, Black Enterprise, etc isn't exactly bad either.  So who has the strongest?  Depends.  Economically and currently, Columbus.  Historically, Dayton, Cincinnati, and Cleveland.

in terms of overall community unity oberlin no question.

^I'd also state a case for Yellow Springs, Jamestown, and Gallipolis, in that case of smaller cities.

In terms of culture, every time I have been to Columbus I just don't feel as if there is as much of a Black force in the Community as there is in Cincinnati, Cleveland, or Dayton.  Could this be due to just sheer numbers, or is there something more? Or is my perception false?

\Columbus' perhaps is seemingly the least segregated metropolitan area in Ohio in terms of African-Americans \

 

Older cities get an unnecessary bad rap for the segregation that does exist within their boundaries.  Cleveland is very highly segregated. Is it because it is a racist city? No, its because of its age, development patterns and the passing a certain federal laws.  If a city developed its settlement patterns before 1968, you will find a lot of segregation. If it developed after 1968, there usually is much less segregation. Why? In 1968, the Equal Housing Act was passed.  This Act gave minorities access to neighbhorhoods that effectively excluded them before the Act took effect.  In older towns, the neighborhoods and communities were already well established and the races tended to stick to the same settlement patterns.

The black culture does have a strong community in Cleveland, but I really know very little about how things are in other areas of the state. 

One aspect of the Black race in Columbus that I have picked up on is the intra-racial, socio-economic segregation.  The Blacks here appear to be so caught up in titles, money, connections, etc.  There appears to be a very "cliquish" and pretentious mindset amongst the well to do Blacks in Columbus (and no, I haven't met them all...just enough to make an opinionated observation).  In fact, this is one reason that I stopped going to a certain "old monied" church in the city.  It was too much to constantly hear "this attorney went to Morehouse" or "State Senator thus and so" or "Dr. this...Dr. that."  Argh...it is nauseating at best.  Yes, the Columbus Black community is very progressive, educated, and well connected here for the most part and that is to be applauded.  However, I don't see unity at all.  I have witnessed the "crabs in a barrel" mentality more times than I would have desired.  Guess I was naive to believe that this mentality only existed in Atlanta.  At any rate, I can only do for the Blacks in the Columbus community (that happen to be less fortunate than myself) what I am able to do.  I refuse to get caught up in a pretentious and "holier than thou" mindset. 

I think that it is also worth noting that it matters very much how "segregated" is defined in a study.  The typical measure is essentially to say how many minorities would have to move to another census tract in order to even out the amount of minorities in all census tracts.  By that method places like Cleveland look very bad.  Another study that I saw a year or so back looked at how many people already live in integrated census blocks.  By that study, Cleveland was one of the more integrated cities in America.  It is very interesting reading, especially when you consider the underlying assumptions of the old model:

 

http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/ETI/integration/integration.htm

Just thought I would add the neighborhood plans for King-Lincoln and South Linden, for anyone interested. Lots of good history and photos in these PDFs:

 

King-Lincoln:

http://www.columbusinfobase.org/eleclib/library/kinglincoln.pdf

 

South Linden:

http://www.columbusinfobase.org/eleclib/library/SouthLindenNeighborhoodPlan.pdf

One aspect of the Black race in Columbus that I have picked up on is the intra-racial, socio-economic segregation.  The Blacks here appear to be so caught up in titles, money, connections, etc.  There appears to be a very "cliquish" and pretentious mindset amongst the well to do Blacks in Columbus (and no, I haven't met them all...just enough to make an opinionated observation).  In fact, this is one reason that I stopped going to a certain "old monied" church in the city.  It was too much to constantly hear "this attorney went to Morehouse" or "State Senator thus and so" or "Dr. this...Dr. that."  Argh...it is nauseating at best.  Yes, the Columbus Black community is very progressive, educated, and well connected here for the most part and that is to be applauded.  However, I don't see unity at all.  I have witnessed the "crabs in a barrel" mentality more times than I would have desired.  Guess I was naive to believe that this mentality only existed in Atlanta.  At any rate, I can only do for the Blacks in the Columbus community (that happen to be less fortunate than myself) what I am able to do.  I refuse to get caught up in a pretentious and "holier than thou" mindset. 

 

^ Ugh this is what I hated about Atlanta, I was hoping Columbus would be the alternative because Atlanta is a bonified fashion show. Although I didnt get this feeling about Columbus when I was there, but I wasnt there long either.

 

@edale

 

Its probably numbers because Cincy, Cleveland and Dayton has the highest black population percentage wise. I was actually surprised at how many black people were in Dayton though, I visited there looong time ago and alway figured it was just a hick city, but the census today says the black population is 43%!? They must've been hiding from me or something. But dont let population fool you, I've learned living in a majority black city (Cleveland) was overrated b/c for every one race consious person you'll find 3 of the opposite. Another thing I didnt like about Cleveland was the thug mentality, even amongst the older people (although some people like that). I prefer quality over quantity, Iv'e actually have never been to Cincy but I do hear there are alot of quality blacks making a difference. Ive been wanting to get down there to see that Underground Railroad Muesem. You may already be in the right place.

in terms of overall community unity oberlin no question.

^I'd also state a case for Yellow Springs, Jamestown, and Gallipolis, in that case of smaller cities.

 

can't argue qualitative, but oberlin is blacker than those other small towns so oberlin wins.  :mrgreen:

Also, to be fair, the majority of blacks in the Dayton area live NORTH of Oakwood (meaning, Trotwood, Springfield, Troy, Huber Heights, Englewood, Clayton, etc).  Thus, the rift between Dayton/North and South Metro, which is Asian and white (generalization here; though Centerville and Kettering have some black folks).

 

People would say historically the "strongest" African-American communities were in Cleveland, Cincinnati, and Dayton, but I think it's simply because they had the most blacks to begin with.

 

But again, "strongest black community" has multiple-meanings.  Thus, historically, Dayton/Cleveland/Cincinnati and Oberlin/Yellow Springs/Jamestown while economically, Columbus.  Akron, Toledo, and Youngstown have black populations but none were historically as strong as the four largest metropolitan areas in Ohio.  I don't feel it was due to the amount of blacks but moreso the history that those cities produced overall (hell, look at Yellow Springs and Oberlin; two liberal arts towns with black percentages of 15% and the history each produced; or even Ripley, an abolitionist town along the Ohio River).

 

So really, it isn't size but simply the amount of history, black progression, or contributions (in Ohio's case, freedom, schools [including Wilberforce], music, and literature).  In terms of racial integration in Ohio, we are all the same, generally.  There are no outliners (except liberal arts towns and weirdly...Lorain...).

Older cities get an unnecessary bad rap for the segregation that does exist within their boundaries.  Cleveland is very highly segregated. Is it because it is a racist city? No, its because of its age, development patterns and the passing a certain federal laws.  If a city developed its settlement patterns before 1968, you will find a lot of segregation. If it developed after 1968, there usually is much less segregation. Why? In 1968, the Equal Housing Act was passed.  This Act gave minorities access to neighbhorhoods that effectively excluded them before the Act took effect.  In older towns, the neighborhoods and communities were already well established and the races tended to stick to the same settlement patterns.

 

Well, Columbus is no exception and is one of the largest cases of black segregation due to urban renewel.  I believe it is due to Columbus' being more accessible towards different areas via interstates and such that make it seemingly more "visible" to see African-Americans across town versus Dayton/Cincinnati/Cleveland.

What's the story behind Jamestown's black history?  Underground railroad?  And also, are Wilberforce and later Central State located where they are because of the underground railroad?  Other than passing through Jamestown a couple of times, I know very little about it.

 

Greene County--especially when you look at higher education--has a little something for everyone. Everything from the Air Force Institute of Technology to Antioch; from Cedarville to Wilberforce and Central State; and from Wright State to Payne Theology.  But I digress.

Jamestown was indeed an underground railroad town and Rt. 68, which Wilberforce/Central State are nearby, was a large underground railroad route to Canada.

Perhaps slightly off topic...I went to see Maya Angelou at UC tonight.  It was very well attended (my estimate would be 6,000). The crowd was  very diverse. What an encouraging thing to see in Cincinnati!

So....I excavated this topic from 12 years ago.

 

I just moved from a overwhite town to an integrated/majority Black neighborhood in Toledo (I'm white, my partner is Asian), and we are getting to know folks here.

 

Toledo just had its second Black and first Black female mayor; but I'm guessing that the housing crash a decade ago devastated the Black community here like it did for others in Toledo.

 

How have these assessments changed in the last dozen years?