Historic home of verse
In 1936, the Paul Laurence Dunbar House at 219 N. Summit St. in Dayton, became the first state memorial to honor an African-American.
Home to one of the first nationally known African-American writers, Dunbar purchased the home in 1904 for his mother.
In Dunbar’s upstairs study and bedroom, you are surrounded by the things he held dear.
Shelves are heavy with his collection of books. The desk where he composed poems and collections of short stories is covered with photographs and mementos from his travels.
Check the museum website for opening hours during the pandemic.
“No mail, no morale”
Credit: HANDOUT
Credit: HANDOUT
Lt. Col. Charity Edna Earley commanded the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion in Europe during World War II. The all-black battalion of 855 women was tasked with delivering mail to Americans stationed in Europe. Their motto was, "No mail, no morale."
The job was monumental. When they arrived in England, the Battle of the Bulge had disrupted mail deliveries to thousands of GIs, and three giant airplane hangars were packed full of undelivered mail, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Lt. Col. Earley was publicly recognized by President Clinton at the groundbreaking for the Women’s Memorial in Washington D.C. She died in 2002.
The country’s oldest private historically black university
Credit: Rembert E. Stokes Archives and S
Credit: Rembert E. Stokes Archives and S
Wilberforce University is the country's oldest private historically black university with origins dating back before the Civil War.
Named in honor of William Wilberforce, an 18th-century abolitionist, the university was founded in 1856. Two years later, more than 200 students from around the country, including escaped slaves, attended the university.
The university became a center of black cultural and intellectual life. Since those early years, the attendance rolls have been filled with influential African-Americans including educator, writer and activist Hallie Quinn Brown; American jazz bandleader Myron “Tiny” Bradshaw; James H. McGee, the first African-American mayor of Dayton; and opera soprano Leontyne Price.
Man of many firsts
Credit: Contributed
Credit: Contributed
Charles Young, who lived and taught in Wilberforce, was the third African-American to graduate from the United States Military Academy at West Point.
He went on to achieve the rank of colonel and serve as a military attache despite being born into slavery in 1864.
In 1903 he was assigned to protect Sequoia and General Grant National Parks, becoming the first African-American superintendent of a national park.
Young reported to Wilberforce University in 1894 on a detached service assignment to teach a military science and tactics course. He bought a brick house in 1907 outside of the community and named it "Youngsholm."
For more information and tours: Charles Young Buffalo Soldiers National Monument
Teaching for the future
Louise Troy became the only African-American teacher retained after schools were integrated in 1887. She provided teacher training to young black women in the early 1900s, according to Dayton Public Schools.
Much of her career was spent at Garfield School, where she retired in 1920. Among the students she taught during her career was Paul Laurence Dunbar, who went on to international acclaim as a poet.
Troy helped found the Women’s Christian Association in 1893, and it later became the YWCA. She was also the co-founder and treasurer of the Dayton branch of the NAACP located at Zion Baptist Church.
Troy died in 1941. Louise Troy Elementary School opened in 1957 on Richley Avenue for students in kindergarten through third grade. Today the new Louise Troy PreK-6 School, built in 2006, serves pre-kindergarten through sixth grade.
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