By ANGELIQUE WALKER-SMITH
“Just leave it up to you and in a little while /
You’re messin’ up my mind and fillin’ up my senses /
And shakin’ me up so! And here I go!”- Dolly Parton
(Originally written by Cynthia Weil and Barry Mann)
Recently one of the most popular songwriters and songstresses in the U.S., Ms. Dolly Parton, passed away. With over 3,000 songs of heart and hardship to her name, she won the hearts of many with these gifts. Others like the more than 600 million dollars she gave away to worthy causes and investments. This included “The House that Whitney Built,” a commercial office and strip mall complex in Nashville’s 12 South/Sevier Park neighborhood that Parton purchased using millions of royalties earned from Houston’s 1992 cover of “I Will Always Love You.” This and other stories of her legacy began with very humble beginnings in a small mountain town in Tennessee.
Like Ms. Parton, I also come from small towns in Ohio, Cedarville and Springfield, and my country homeland in Alabama. Recently I returned to Ohio for my high school and junior high reunions and engaged a little-known book called “One Hundred Seventy-Five Years of Blacks in Springfield, Ohio.”The book points out that Ohio was a part of the Northwest Ordinance that prohibited slavery but was equally determined that “free African Americans should be denied the rights of citizenship.”
In 1804, the legislature enacted the first series of anti-Black laws that included penalties for helping enslaved people who had escaped (The Fugitive slave Acts of 1793 and 1850). In 1807, these punitive laws were further strengthened.
Soon after, as early as 1817, white Ohioans offered more resolutions and organized official approval of colonization of African Americans in 1828 and 1832. White citizens of the state raised resources for the cause of deporting Ohio’s African Americans to Africa, where they purchased 8 million acres of land. In 1842, a Clark County Anti-Slavery Society was formed. In other words, from the beginning, African peoples were not welcome in Ohio.
At the same time, there were abolitionists and other white citizens that did not support the assaults and related initiatives and provided sanctuary with housing, food, and advocacy for African Americans. The advent of African American churches, including Zion Baptist Church in Cedarville and St. John Missionary Baptist Church in Springfield, where I grew up and where my father later served as pastor, helped defend the dignity and rights of African Americans throughout the 1800s.
Sadly, this history is being repeated today with the lapse of the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program which has punished our Haitian community in Springfield, Ohio despite their significant contributions to the economy and welfare of Springfield. Although Springfield is a sanctuary city with outspoken and compassionate faith and community leaders who advocate for the human dignity of our Haitian community and support them with food, shelter and a voice, this moment is a bitter reminder of the past.
Read here for more background on the recent events in Springfield and learn more here about how you can advocate for related policies to advance the dignity of all affected.
Rev. Dr. Angelique Walker-Smith is the Strategist for Pan African and Orthodox Faith Engagement at Bread for the World.
