The Record

The first African American man elected to the Ohio House of Representatives was George Washington Williams in 1880 — within a decade of the 15th Amendment.

John Patterson Green became the first African American elected to the Ohio State Senate in 1892. He was elected from a majority-white district and became the only African American from the North to hold a state senate seat before World War I. He introduced the legislation that established Labor Day as a state holiday in Ohio in 1893.

He was born in New Bern, North Carolina — the same town where Abraham Galloway was born, the man who died as a North Carolina state senator in 1870. Green lived to 95, having outlived almost everyone who remembered the world he was born into.

Ohio produced Black political representation within a decade of the 15th Amendment and sustained it. The archive notes this not as celebration but as evidence of what was possible when the machinery of suppression was not fully engaged.

Heritage Cards

The first African American man elected to the Ohio House of Representatives, in 1880. Also the author of the first comprehensive scholarly history of Black Americans, published 1883. Soldier, minister, lawyer, legislator, historian. One of the most remarkable figures of the 19th century — almost entirely forgotten.

Elected to the Ohio Senate in 1892 — the first African American state senator in Ohio, and the only Black state senator in the North until the 20th century. Introduced the legislation that established Labor Day in Ohio as a state holiday. He was 95 years old when he died, having lived from the antebellum era through the beginning of World War II. Born in New Bern, North Carolina — the same town as Abraham Galloway — and died in Cleveland having outlived almost everyone who remembered the world he was born into.

Black Americans make up approximately 12.4% of Ohio's population — about approximately 1.5 million people. They have always been here.