Generation 3: Jim Crow

A list of recipients of the Fortnightly Scholarship, administered by the Fortnightly Club, from years 1929-1986. The Fortnightly Club of Oxford, Ohio, was established in 1893, and served as a platform for women of the community to discuss issues and organize community service initiatives. It has also had a history of supporting local education, such as through the scholarship discussed in this source. The names listed represent a history of academic rigor in Oxford’s African-American community, even at a time when the academic achievements of that community were scarcely celebrated by the University.

This is a program for the rededication ceremony of the First Baptist Church of Oxford, Ohio. According to the history published in the pamphlet, the church originally opened in 1865 as a community space for the many Black migrants headed to Oxford from southern farms. While there were plenty of jobs around Oxford for Black farmers, hostility from white Oxford residents led these Black residents to develop their own churches and other institutions. In 1892, the church was able to purchase a lot on Vine Street, on which T. C. Lloyd constructed the dedicated church building to be opened in 1898. The church served the local community by providing Sunday School, music, and a ground for civic engagements and community building. The Rededication Day celebrated the renovations to the church and the growth made in its congregation. In the opening of the program, the Reverend James H. Carter called for a rededication at a time “shaken by unrest, and danger” in order to move his church to act for “justice, equality, goodwill, and brotherhood.” Among those listed as important patrons of the church are Jenny Elder Suel and her husband Clifford Eugine Suel.

This source includes details from Jennie Elder Suel herself on the migration of her late husband’s grandparents, Dawson Davis Drew-Stewart and John Henry Stewart, from Virginia to Oxford, Ohio. Suel recalls details about the work that her grandfather-in-law did for Miami University after they came to Oxford, which included helping to cut down trees to make room for the building of Miami dormitories and Western College. Additional details are given on the first three 1800s-era documents that Suel donated to Miami University which include the freedom certificates of her husband’s grandparents, as well as records of the military service of enslaved people in the Civil War. Suel also discloses that she donated her family’s archive to Miami University at the request of her grandmother-in-law, Dawson Drew.

This column in the Cincinnati Enquirer by Mark Purdy celebrates Jennie Elder Suel’s 90th birthday. He interviews her about her African, Irish, and Cherokee ancestry, her career as a nurse, her experience facing racial discrimination, and her time working at Miami University. Not only did she work as a nurse at Miami, she also took in Black students as borders at a time when Miami still enforced segregation, and provided emotional and religious support to students as they struggled against discrimination. The author called attention to the green dress she proudly wore to celebrate her Irish heritage every year on her birthday, St. Patrick’s Day. When asked about her ethnicity, Suel replied that she is “an American citizen.”