By Dorothy H. Christenson
Introduction by Mary E. Frederickson
“Marian Spencer’s story weaves together the private and the public in a way that provides a new understanding of the adage from the 1970s women’s movement, ‘the personal is political.’ Keep on Fighting, like Marian Spencer herself, disarms the reader as we find not a story of unmitigated success and happiness, but rather a nuanced and realistic autobiography that weaves together the joys and sorrows of a long life.… Marian Spencer has much to teach the subsequent generations about resistance, equality, and the meaning of American freedom.”
From the introduction by Mary E. Frederickson, coeditor of Gendered Resistance: Women, Slavery, and the Legacy of Margaret Garner
Marian Alexander Spencer was born in 1920 in the Ohio River town of Gallipolis, Ohio, one year after the “Red Summer” of 1919 that saw an upsurge in race riots and lynchings. Following the example of her grandfather, an ex-slave and community leader, Marian joined the NAACP at thirteen and grew up to achieve not only a number of civic leadership firsts in her adopted home city of Cincinnati, but a legacy of lasting civil rights victories.
Of these, the best known is the desegregation of Cincinnati’s Coney Island amusement park. She also fought to desegregate Cincinnati schools and to stop the introduction of observers in black voting precincts in Ohio. Her campaign to raise awareness of industrial toxic-waste practices in minority neighborhoods was later adapted into national Superfund legislation.
In 2012, Marian’s friend and colleague Dot Christenson sat down with her to record her memories. The resulting biography not only gives us the life story of remarkable leader but encapsulates many of the twentieth century’s greatest struggles and advances. Spencer’s story will prove inspirational and instructive to citizens and students alike.
Dorothy H. Christenson is retired from a career in nonprofit program development and administration. Since 1970, she has worked with Marian Spencer at a fair-housing agency, the League of Women Voters, the Charter Committee of Cincinnati, Planned Parenthood, and more. More info →
Retail price:
$24.95 ·
Save 20% ($19.96)
Retail price:
$49.95 ·
Save 20% ($39.96)
US and Canada only
Availability and price vary according to vendor.
Share 
Permission to reprint
Permission
to photocopy or include in a course pack
via Copyright Clearance
Center
Click or tap on a subject heading to sign up to be notified when new related books come out.
Paperback
978-0-8214-2194-9
Retail price: $24.95,
T.
Release date: July 2015
42 illus.
·
160 pages
·
6 × 9 in.
Rights: World
Hardcover
978-0-8214-2171-0
Retail price: $49.95,
S.
Release date: July 2015
42 illus.
·
160 pages
·
6 × 9 in.
Rights: World
Electronic
978-0-8214-4533-4
Release date: July 2015
42 illus.
·
160 pages
Rights: World
Memphis Tennessee Garrison
The Remarkable Story of a Black Appalachian Woman
Edited by Ancella R. Bickley and Lynda Ann Ewen
This oral history, based on interview transcripts, is the untold story of African American life in West Virginia, as seen through the eyes of a remarkable woman: Memphis Tennessee Garrison, an innovative teacher, administrative worker at US Steel, and vice president of the National Board of the NAACP at the height of the civil rights struggle.
Biography, African American · Social Science | Regional Studies · African American Studies · Women’s History · Political Science | Civil Rights · Appalachia · Ohio and Regional · History | African American
The Papers of Clarence Mitchell Jr., Volume I
1942–1943
By Clarence Mitchell Jr.
·
Edited by Denton L. Watson
Clarence Mitchell Jr. was the driving force in the movement for passage of civil rights laws in America. The foundation for Mitchell’s struggle was laid during his tenure at the Fair Employment Practice Committee, where he led implementation of President Roosevelt’s policy barring racial discrimination in employment in the national defense and war industry programs. Mitchell’s FEPC reports and memoranda chart the beginning of the modern civil rights movement.The
History · American History · Political Science · Legal and Constitutional History · Law · Political Science | Civil Rights · History | African American
Soulful Bobcats
Experiences of African American Students at Ohio University, 1950–1960
By Carl H. Walker and Betty Hollow
·
Foreword by Roderick J. McDavis
During the 1950s, a group of ambitious young African Americans enrolled at Ohio University, a predominantly white school in Athens, Ohio. Years later, eighteen of them decided to share their stories, recalling the joys and challenges of living on a white campus before the civil rights era.
Memoir · Biography, African American · African American Studies · Ohio and Regional · Athens, Ohio · Ohio
Sign up to be notified when new Ohio and Regional titles come out.
We will only use your email address to notify you of new titles in the subject area(s) you follow. We will never share your information with third parties.
