| The Repository
Martin Luther King Jr. Harriet Tubman. Frederick Douglass. Sojourner Truth. Booker T. Washington.
The names of men and women of color who have made recognizable names of themselves because of their accomplishments through the history of the United States are far more numerous than this memorable handful.
And it is appropriate that we remember them during these February days that are set aside as Black History Month.
Stark County has seen its share of local Black residents rise to the level of “notables,” as well.
“There are many heroes and inspirations to be discovered in Canton’s black history,” wrote Nadine McIlwain and Geraldine Radcliffe in their 2019 book, “African Americans of Canton, Ohio: Treasures of Black History.”
Some of those who engaged in more visible endeavors remain in the forefront of the memories for those who years ago became aware of them. Sports stars. Entertainers. Political leaders.
Others, whose accomplishments came about farther in the past or in areas of life that did not draw as much attention — whose deeds nevertheless were every bit as notable — perhaps are less well known to us today.
The achievements of African Americans who spent at least some of their lives in Stark County are so numerous and significant that those whose names are mentioned in this space can hardly make up an all-inclusive list. This highlighting of the lives of a few outstanding individuals serves only to draw attention to the accomplishments of the many other African Americans who have made their mark in a variety ways.
Canton and Stark firsts
According to “African Americans of Canton Ohio,” Prior Foster was the first Black man to settle in Stark County, in East Sparta, early in the 1800s, while David Hall was the first Black man to settle specifically in Canton prior to 1865.
Dr. J.B. Walker became the first Black physician in Canton in 1920, the timeline notes, and a version of the timeline published in The Repository in 2008 adds that Dr. Walker helped organize Canton Urban League in 1921.
In 1934, continues the Repository’s timeline, “J.L. Brewer, owner of Southside Pharmacy, arrives from Toledo University and becomes Canton’s first Black pharmacist.”
Dorothy White was hired as Canton’s first Black teacher in 1949.
Then, in December of 1969, “Odes J. Kyle Jr., 38, became the first Black to serve on the Canton City Board of Education,” the timeline documents.
Esther Archer became the first Black woman elected to municipal office in Ohio when she became a Canton city council member in 1948, the timeline notes, while Ira Turpin, when he was elected as a common pleas court judge in 1972, was the first Black elected in a countywide vote.
Clay Hunter, some may recall, was the first African American judge in Stark County, but he had been appointed instead of elected in 1962.
In Stark County courtrooms
As noted in a Repository historical article published on Feb. 12, 1996, Norman Putman, then Stark County prosecutor, had made a younger Ira Turpin the county’s first assistant prosecutor in 1957. “A decade later, Prosecutor David Dowd made the more experienced Turpin the office’s first Black chief assistant.”
Turpin was color blind in his legal roles, first as an attorney and then as a judge.
“The color of the defendant’s skin was not a concern for Turpin,” the article noted. “Only the commission of a crime was to be examined in court, he believed.”
And, in the most recent election, Republican Kyle Stone became the first Black elected as Stark County prosecutor.
One of the more interesting courtroom firsts for Black residents occurred in 1879, when Robert Pinn of Massillon was admitted to the bar. Pinn, a lawyer of note in Stark County, had earned honors during the Civil War. He had served with distinction, chronicles a profile at the website for Massillon Museum, as a member of the 5th Regiment, U.S. Colored Troops, the first black unit in Ohio.
“Following the death of the unit’s leader, Pinn led the troops into battle despite suffering three bullet wounds,” the museum’s profile explains. “He was one of only four African American Ohioans to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor” in the Civil War.
Entertainment
Well-known Canton singing group The O’Jays made their mark with popular hits “Back Stabbers,” “Keep On Loving Me,” “Lovin’ You,” “I Love Music,” and “Used Ta Be My Girl.”
Macy Gray also forged a fine career out of such songs as “I Try,” “When I See You,” and “Sweet Baby.”
Of lesser familiarity, but no less talented, was Irving Barnes, a popular baritone on both radio and television, according to a “Stark’s Famous” profile in The Canton Repository in 2016. Barnes, who graduated from McKinley High School in 1941, sang with New York Philharmonic Symphony and Pittsburgh Opera, as well as appearing on Broadway in New York in several productions from 1947 to 1985.
“The youth is an actor of rare gifts for comedy,” the Repository said in a review in 1941.
On a local note, “Barnes” won a national championship in humorous declamation in 1941,” while he was in high school at McKinley,” the 2016 “Stark’s Famous profile continued, “and was recognized by state lawmakers for becoming the first Black youth to win a national championship in the previous five years.”
On playing fields
Alan Page and Marion Motley, the latter for whom an effort currently is being made to raise money for a memorial in Canton, are perhaps two of Stark County’s most revered Black athletes. Both were enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
“Alan Page was the best defensive player I ever saw,” said his coach for the Minnesota Vikings, as quoted in the 2010 book, “All Rise: The Remarkable Journey of Alan Page,” by Bill McGrane.
The man played in four Super Bowl and nine Pro Bowl games went on to become a judge on the Minnesota Supreme Court, and, according to Triumph Books, the publisher of that biography, “has made far more significant contributions from the bench than he did on the field.”
Stark County has seen many Black athletes enter the professional ranks, following the example of Motley, who helped break the color barrier in 1946, “one year before Jackie Robinson signed with baseball’s Brooklyn Dodgers,” noted Motley’s profile at the site for the Hall of Fame.
“The trailblazers were Marion Motley and Bill Willis, who signed with the Cleveland Browns of the new All-American Football Conference,” said the Hall of Fame profile, “and Kenny Washington and Woody Strode, who signed with the National Football League’s Los Angeles Rams.”
In the decades that followed, such area sports stars as Mike Doss, Jamar Martin and Percy Snow played in the NFL. Such standout basketball players as Nick Weatherspoon, C.J. McCollum, Michael Hawkins, Eric Snow, and Phil Hubbard were stars of such note that they made it to the National Basketball Association.
Hubbard, in fact, as a member of the United State’s basketball team, was one of two Black athletes from the Canton area to win Olympic gold medals. The other, of course, was boxer Ronnie Harris.
Boxer Marion Conner was another Canton area pugilist who “fought many of the top names in an era when boxing was still a sport with many great fighters,” recalls a posting at the International Boxing Research Organization. His record of 23 wins and six losses included a loss to the mighty Joe Frazier, but in his sport his reputation is of being one of boxing’s best.
A sports achievement that has remained visible for decades is that of golf course designer William Powell, a legacy that was lengthened by his daughter Renee Powell. The elder Powell, built Clearview Golf Club in the East Canton area, the first course designed, built, owned and operated by an African American, notes the course website.
“When William ‘Bill’ Powell encountered racial discrimination on the golf course after returning home from World War II, he decided to build his own place to play, one where people of all colors would be welcome,” the website explains. “In 1946, he established Clearview Golf Club in East Canton Ohio: ‘America’s Course.'”
His daughter, the second Black to play on the LPGA tour, still runs the course with her brother, Larry. The course was named a National Historic Site in 2001.
Civil rights leaders
Finally, and perhaps most significantly, civil rights leaders helped change the world after leaving Stark County, according to a display at Wm. McKinley Presidential Library & Museum.
“Civil Rights leader Rev. James M. Lawson grew up in Massillon where his father was pastor of St. James African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church,” notes text in the museum exhibit. “Lawson and Charles McDew, another Massillon native, helped found and lead the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and coordinate the 1961 Freedom Ride.
“In the spring of 1968 Lawson invited Dr. Martin Luther King to speak in Memphis, Tennessee. A day after giving the ‘Mountain Top’ sermon, on April 4, 1968, Dr. King was assassinated in Memphis.”
Reach Gary at gary.brown.rep@gmail.com.
On Twitter: @gbrownREP
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