Author: Tyler

Book Review: Terrible Swift Sword

Terrible Swift Sword: The Legacy of John Brown. Edited by Peggy A. Russo and Paul Finkelman. (Athens, Ohio: Ohio University Press, 2005. 228 pp. Paper, $24.95. ISBN: 0821416316.)

This collection of twelve essays by scholars from various fields examines the legacy of John Brown, the abolitionist zealot whose raid in 1859 on the Federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, further inflamed sectional hostility and helped ignite the Civil War. Drawn from a symposium on Brown at the Mont Alto campus of Pennsylvania State University in 1996, these essays focus for the most part on how people then and now have thought of Brown and how they have portrayed him—as a martyr, madman, criminal, or terrorist. The conference organizers and the editors sought multidisciplinary contributors in hopes of overcoming the “habit of specialization” among academics in an effort to garner fresh insights into Brown’s legacy. These essays, for the most part, succeed in their goal. Continue reading Book Review: Terrible Swift Sword

Book Review: British Buckeyes

British Buckeyes: The English, Scots, & Welsh in Ohio, 1700-1900.By Warren E Van Vugt. (Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press, 2006. xiii, 295 pp. Cloth, $55.00, ISBN 0-87338-843-7.)

British Buckeyes. The English, Scots, & Welsh in Ohio, 1700-1900 by Warren E. Van Vugt of Calvin College is a survey of the influence British immigrants had on the development of Ohio over the course of two centuries. The arrival, settlement, and impact of British immigrants in the United States after 1775 is virtually ignored in academic literature, so this examination of them in one state is to be welcomed. The first premise of the work is that the history of Ohio cannot be told or understood without the British immigrants. The second premise, asserted in an often repeated phrase, is that British immigrants had a significant impact because of their cultural affinity with the Americans as well as a common language and religion. This fact is perhaps why British immigrants are so often overlooked: before 1775 they helped create American culture, but afterwards they simply blended in, not having as many obstacles to overcome or barriers to break through as other immigrant groups. Van Vugt, following heavily on the heels of Albion’s Seed by David Hackett Fischer, believes that British immigrants coming to Ohio were simply reinforcing the folkways of earlier arrivals from Scotland, England, and Wales. Provocatively, in his conclusion he wonders when Ohio stopped being British and started being American. Although he admits many changes occurred between “early” and “late” British migrants, he does not seem to regard the differences as significant. Continue reading Book Review: British Buckeyes

Lucy Markerly: A Case Study of an Englishwoman’s Immigration to the Western Reserve in the 1830s

By: John T. Nelson

Contending that women have been marginalized in the historical record investigating immigration, historians Donna Gabaccia and Suzanne Sinke have addressed this bias in the scholarly literature. Scholars Sydney Stahl Weinberg, Maxine S. Seller, and Susan Jacoby have called for changes in the study of immigration by integrating the female view into this important field of United States history. They assert that social history will be incomplete until the historiography includes both genders in a uniform study.[1. Donna Gabaccia, “Immigrant Women: Nowhere at Home?,” Journal of American Ethnic History 10 (Summer 1991): 61-87.; Suzanne Sinke, “A Historiography of Immigrant Women in the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries,” Ethnic Forum9 (1989): 122-145.; Sydney Stahl Weinberg, “The Treatment of Women in Immigration History: A Call for Change,” Journal of American Ethnic History, vol. 11, no. 4, (Summer 1992): 25-67.; Maxine S. Seller, “Beyond the Stereotype: A New Look at the Immigrant Woman, 1880-1924,” The Journal of Ethnic Studies 3 (Spring 1975): 59-70.; Susan Jacoby, “World of Our Mothers: Immigrant Women, Immigrant Daughter,” Present Tense 6 (Spring 1979): 48-51.] This paper will argue that Lucy Markerly, an English woman immigrant, provides a case study to examine questions and issues faced by women immigrants. As a widow who outlived two husbands, this educated woman’s life and writing, speak to the motivations behind immigration in the 1830s. The research will assess her actions, as well as the economic, political, and spiritual beliefs revealed in her journal, poetry, and family library.[2. See Appendix A for examples of Lucy Markerly’s verse.] Continue reading Lucy Markerly: A Case Study of an Englishwoman’s Immigration to the Western Reserve in the 1830s

In This Issue: Spring 2007

In The Current Issue:

In studying great themes in history, it is all too easy to forget that the United States is made up of individuals, and that these individuals were people not entirely unlike ourselves. An understanding of the lives of individuals—the sentiments and motivations of those people who “made history happen”—is crucial in understanding the greater events of U.S. (and Ohio) history. Our feature article in this edition of the Northeast Ohio Journal of History helps us to remember this simple truth. In “Lucy Markerly: A Case Study of an Englishwoman’s Immigration to the Western Reserve in the 1830s,” John Nelson uses the individual experiences of one of the multitudes of people who flocked to the United States in the early 1800s to draw attention to such larger themes as the immigration experience, gender roles, religion, and assimilation. In so doing, this single story helps the reader keep sight of the fact that there is no single story to the history of immigration.

While you are visiting the journal, please take the time to drop by our new discussion board. Taking advantage of the technology available to us as an electronic journal, we believe this new feature will make our journal more interactive and serve to engender substantive debate, discussion, and exchange of information for all people interested in the history of Ohio.

In addition to the usual book reviews, we also encourage the reader to explore the other features of our site. For those who missed earlier issues, please visit our “Archives” link, which contains the entire contents of previous volumes. We have expanded our “Research Links” feature, adding not only more primary sources but also more links to local historical agencies. We strongly encourage the reader to suggest or send new links for this page. The same is true for items in “Current History,” which is a clearinghouse for information on events of a historical nature in Northeast Ohio . Because we update this section constantly, please feel free to send announcements for it at any time.

We would also like to remind our readers that printer-friendly versions accompany each article and review. These PDF files are not only easier on the eyes when printed, but also contain basic issue data and page numbers for convenience in citation.

As always, please address any inquiries about this project (or about any other aspect of the journal) to the editor at kkern @ uakron. edu. We welcome all comments and suggestions.

Kevin Kern

Continue reading In This Issue: Spring 2007

In This Issue: Fall 2005

In The Current Issue:

From its inception, the Northeast Ohio Journal of History has endeavored to make the best use of the technology available to provide our readers with a high-quality alternative to print-only periodicals. From the virtual museum exhibit that has been a feature of every issue, to the recently-added interactive discussion board function, we have tried to take full advantage of the possibilities open to online journal.

This issue of NOJH provides yet another exciting new example of the potential of electronic publishing. For the first time, we are publishing an article that is accompanied by video clips. Kenneth Bindas and Molly Merryman examine the intersections of race, discrimination, class, gender, and memory during the civil rights era in their feature article, “Out of the Shadows: Informal Segregation in Warren, Ohio, 1954-1964.” After reading the article, click on our “Exhibit” section to visit some of the oral history clips the authors used as source material. As compelling as these video clips are, we hope other authors will be encouraged by this precedent to submit articles accompanied by video or sound files for future issues.

Our “Notes and Comments” section features a piece by Gregory Wilson describing the million-dollar “Teaching American History” grant he wrote in conjunction with the Akron Public Schools. The three-year professional development program for elementary and secondary school teachers is already underway and has brought in nationally-recognized scholars to participate. “Public History Partnerships through the Teaching American History Program” highlights projects from the Akron, Cleveland, and Youngstown areas.

While you are visiting the journal, please take the time to drop by our new discussion board. Taking advantage of the technology available to us as an electronic journal, we believe this new feature will make our journal more interactive and serve to engender substantive debate, discussion, and exchange of information for all people interested in the history of Ohio.

In addition to the usual book reviews, we also encourage the reader to explore the other features of our site. For those who missed earlier issues, please visit our “Archives” link, which contains the entire contents of previous volumes. We have expanded our “Research Links” feature, adding not only more primary sources but also more links to local historical agencies. We strongly encourage the reader to suggest or send new links for this page. The same is true for items in “Current History,” which is a clearinghouse for information on events of a historical nature in Northeast Ohio. Because we update this section constantly, please feel free to send announcements for it at any time.

We would also like to remind our readers that printer-friendly versions accompany each article and review. These PDF files are not only easier on the eyes when printed, but also contain basic issue data and page numbers for convenience in citation.

As always, please address any inquiries about this project (or about any other aspect of the journal) to the editor at kkern @ uakron. edu. We welcome all comments and suggestions.

Kevin Kern

Continue reading In This Issue: Fall 2005

Notes & Comments: Public History Partnerships through the Teaching American History Program

By: Gregory Wilson, University of Akron
Publication Director, Northeast Ohio Journal of History

Schools, colleges, universities, museums and other institutions across Northeast Ohio are building creative partnerships with one another through the federal government’s Teaching American History grant program. Begun in 2001 and funded through the Department of Education, each grant is for a three-year period. The goals of the national professional development program for elementary and secondary teachers are to improve the quality of American history instruction and generate student interest and performance in American history as a distinct subject within social studies. The Teaching American History grant program represents a major public history initiative across the country and Northeast Ohio has been well-represented within it, receiving 40 percent of the grants in Ohio. Since the program began, there have been 539 projects funded across the country. Of these, 20 have been in Ohio and the 8 projects in Northeast Ohio are highlighted below. Continue reading Notes & Comments: Public History Partnerships through the Teaching American History Program

Book Review: Ohio and the World

Ohio and the World, 1753-2053: Essays toward a New History of Ohio. Edited by Geoffrey Parker, Richard Sisson, and William Russ Coil. (Columbus: The Ohio State University Press, 2005. xiii, 256 pp. Cloth, $49.95, ISBN 0-8142-0939-4. Paper, $22.95, ISBN 0-8142-5115-3.)

In an essay titled “Ohio States” from the book of the same name, Jeffrey Hammond noted that Ohio appeared average because it was, meaning that Ohio is an amalgam of U.S. society, notable for being the middle against which more radical, trendy or controversial events are measured.[1. Jeffrey Hammond, Ohio States: A Twentieth-Century Midwestern, Kent: Kent State University Press, 2002.] In his introduction to Ohio and the World, Andrew R.L. Cayton, author of several books on Ohio and frontier North America, takes exception to this characterization as incomplete. As he notes, Ohio possessed real leadership, since from “the mid-eighteenth through the mid-twentieth century, Ohio was at the forefront of most major developments in the Americas and Europe” (2).

Ohio and the World began as a series of lectures in honor of Ohio’s bicentennial. Now revised and edited, the essays by R. David Edmunds, James Oliver Horton, Eric Foner, Kathryn Kish Sklar, James T. Patterson, Herbert Asher, and William Kirwan seek to explain Ohio’s past and future as intimately involved with globalization. The larger purpose is to push Ohioans to once again make the state a destination point, an economic and socially progressive leader. Continue reading Book Review: Ohio and the World

Book Review: Religion in Ohio

Religion in Ohio: Profiles of Faith Communities. Edited by Tarunjit Singh Butalia and Dianne P. Small (Athens, Ohio: Ohio University Press, 2004. 408 pp. $16.95, ISBN: 0821415522).

This book celebrates Ohio’s religious heritage after 200 years of statehood. It is the result of a collaborative effort by the Religious Experience Advisory Council of the Ohio Bicentennial Commission and the Interfaith Association of Central Ohio.

Within the book the reader will find a brief history of over forty of the major (and some major-minor) Christian denominations in the state, as well as a history of nine non-Christian religions which have found a home in Ohio (Native American Spiritual Traditions, Judaism, Islam, Hindu Dharma, Buddhism, The Sikh Faith, The Bahá’í Faith, Jainism, and Zoroastrianism). The articles are generally written by adherents of each faith, or, in the case of groups no longer in the state (Shakers, Society of Separatists at Zoar), by a scholar familiar with them. There is a detailed index covering both articles and illustrations, and a brief biographical sketch of contributors. Continue reading Book Review: Religion in Ohio

Book Review: Cradles of Conscience

Cradles of Conscience: Ohio‘s Independent Colleges and Universities. Edited by John William Oliver Jr., James A. Hodges, and James H. O’Donnell. (Kent: Kent State University Press, 2003. ix, 588 pp. Paper $50.00, ISBN: 0-87338-763-5.)

Ohio has an unusually rich and deep heritage of private institutions of higher education. Apart from Pennsylvania, no state has more independent baccalaureate colleges and universities, and this ambitious book of forty-three essays examines the history of all of them, along with many more that no longer exist. Although uneven and marred by editing and organizational problems, this book nevertheless is an important contribution to the historical literature of higher education in Ohio, and serves as a valuable reference work for anyone interested in the state’s “Cradles of Conscience.”

College histories are an idiosyncratic literature, written for and appealing to largely parochial audiences with personal interests in the school studied. As a result, most college histories stand more or less alone, with only passing references to other colleges of the time or area. Thus, while the reader may get a deep understanding of the institution studied, often the comparative element is missing, leaving the reader unaware of just how ordinary or unusual events and trends in school history were. With only about ten to twenty pages devoted to each school, Cradles of Conscience can not hope to rival traditional college histories in depth, but provides instead unprecedented breadth in examining the landscape of private colleges in Ohio. The succinctness of each chapter also shows, in sharp relief, the major themes and trends evident in the history of each school, facilitating comparisons with other colleges and universities throughout the state. Continue reading Book Review: Cradles of Conscience

Book Review: Lest We Be Marshall’d

Lest We Be Marshall‘d: Judicial Powers and Politics in Ohio, 1806-1812. By Donald F. Melhorn, Jr. (Akron, Ohio: The University of Akron Press, 2003. 352 pp. $44.95, ISBN 1-931968-01-2.)

Lest We Be Marshall‘d is an anecdotal history of politics and the judiciary in Ohio from 1806 to 1812. Author Donald F. Melhorn, Jr., is a Toledo attorney and Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Toledo . Melhorn is no stranger to scholarship since he published previously on the law. The focus is on the power of the courts to exercise judicial review relative to state laws. Chief Justice John Marshall in Marbury versus Madison, 1803, established the issue of judicial review on the national level. Still it remained a very controversial issue in state politics. Ohio seemingly went beyond reason by subjecting judges to impeachment if they ruled on the constitutionality of a legislative act. Several judges were impeached because they exercised judicial review: Calvin Pease and George Tod.

“Lest We Be Marshall’d” were words spoken as a reference to the influence of the Marshall Court . Melhorn’s anecdotal style is a fresh and scholarly interpretation of politics and personalities during the formative years of Ohio after it had achieved statehood in 1803. Melhorn introduces readers to the dynamics of frontier politics, personalities, and constitutional issues as manifested in the impact of Ohio ‘s “Sweeping Resolution.” In a limited way, Melhorn captured the zeitgeist in Ohio between 1806 and 1812. However, the work is wanting because Melhorn failed to address how Ohio politicians and the judiciary dealt with the black community during these years. When Ohio entered the Union in 1803 under the principles of the Northwest Ordinance, its members narrowly defeated a measure to allow slavery. While the 1887 Ordinance prohibited slavery in the Ohio territory, once it became a state, Ohio could approve or reject the institution. However, between 1804 and 1808, Ohio adopted a series of “Black Laws” which prohibited migration to the state and denied equality to blacks in the state. Thus, it is difficult to appreciate fully any interpretation in 21 st century America that is not inclusive of how politics and courts reacted to Ohio ‘s black community during its formative years.

W. Sherman Jackson
Associate Professor, Miami University