GLOBAL HAND GATEWAY #21

3 Historic Figures Connected to Wilberforce & Greene County You Should Never Forget

A Study of Memory, Power, Race, Institutions, and Who Gets Remembered.
Presented by The Black & White History Project | Global Hand Gateway 21 Vol. I — Free Pilot Edition | Multi-Age Adaptable

Before You Begin

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Why These Three?

Many students can name presidents. Many students can name inventors. Many students can name athletes.
But fewer can name the Black institution builders who transformed Ohio.
These three leaders helped build schools, churches, newspapers, political movements, military leadership, and Black intellectual traditions — and yet many remain absent from standard textbooks.
Essential Question: Why do communities remember some leaders — while erasing institution builders?

Wilberforce University: A Black Institution That Changed America

Founded in 1856, Wilberforce University became one of the first private Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) owned and operated by Africans in North America.

Students explore:

Black education after slavery
Church leadership and abolitionism
Political organizing and Black self-determination

Discussion Prompt: Why might controlling schools matter for freedom?

DR. MARTIN DELANY (1812–1885)

Physician. Journalist. Soldier. Nationalist. Institution Builder. 

Born FREE in Virginia and raised in Pennsylvania, Martin Delany became one of the most consequential — and most overlooked — figures in American history.
Key contributions:

  • Published The Mystery, one of the first Black newspapers in Pittsburgh.
  • Co-edited The North Star alongside Frederick Douglass.
  • Published The Condition, Elevation, Emigration, and Destiny of the Colored People of the United States (1852).
  • Among the first major Black nationalist thinkers in America.
    First Black field-grade officer commissioned in the U.S. Army during the Civil War.
  • Connected to Wilberforce University later in his life.
  • Died in Wilberforce, Ohio, 1885.           

Why He Matters: Delany asked a dangerous question: What happens when Black people build power independent of white approval?

Reflection Questions:

1. Why was Delany considered radical in his time?
2. Why do schools teach Frederick Douglass more often than Martin Delany?
3. What does self-determination mean in your community today?

HALLIE QUINN BROWN (1850–1949)

Educator. Orator. Global Activist.
 
Born to formerly enslaved parents, Hallie Quinn Brown built a life that spanned nearly a century of American transformation — and she shaped every era she lived through.
Key contributions:

  • Graduated from Wilberforce University, 1873.
  • Became professor and dean.
  • International lecturer who took the cause of Black America to stages across Europe.
  • Advocated fiercely for women's suffrage.
  • Led the National Association of Colored Women.
  • Authored Homespun Heroines and Other Women of Distinction.

Why She Matters: Hallie Quinn Brown proves that Black women were building institutions while simultaneously battling racism and sexism — often receiving credit for neither.

Reflection Questions:

1. Why are Black women educators so often erased from public memory?
2. What role does public speaking play in liberation movements?
3. Why should Hallie Quinn Brown be taught in every American history curriculum?

BENJAMIN W. ARNETT (1838–1906)

Bishop. Legislator. Educator.
 
Born FREE in Pennsylvania, Benjamin W. Arnett built a career that moved seamlessly between the pulpit and the statehouse — because he understood that for Black communities, faith and freedom were never separate.
Key contributions:

  • Ordained AME Bishop.
  • Elected to the Ohio General Assembly — one of the few Black legislators of his era.
  • Instrumental in repealing Ohio's Black Laws, which had restricted the rights of Black residents.
  • Served as Trustee at Wilberforce University.
  • Close associate of Frederick Douglass and W.E.B. Du Bois.
  • Religious and political strategist who used the church as a platform for justice.

Why He Matters: Arnett proves that Black faith institutions were never just places of worship — they were centers of political strategy, community resistance, and generational uplift.

Reflection Questions:

1. Why do we often separate church history from political history?
2. What did Black churches provide to their communities beyond Sunday worship?
3. Why is Bishop Arnett less remembered than national civil rights figures who came after him?

TIMELINE ACTIVITY

Place These Leaders in History
 
Using what you've learned, place Delany, Brown, and Arnett on a single timeline alongside these national events:

  • The Civil War (1861–1865)
  • Reconstruction (1865–1877)
  • The Women's Suffrage Movement (1848–1920)
  • The Great Migration (1910–1970)
  • The growth of HBCUs (1837–present)
    Worksheet: (Printable PDF worksheet not-included in the download pack)

Discussion: Where do your three figures appear? What was happening nationally at each moment in their lives?

PRIMARY SOURCE ANALYSIS

Examine excerpts from the writings and speeches of all three leaders. (Excerpts included in the full download pack.)
For each source, answer:
1. What problem is this leader trying to solve?
2. What specific language stands out to you — and why?
3. What personal or political risks did they face in saying this publicly?

Sources include:

  • Delany — selected writings from The Condition, Elevation, Emigration, and Destiny…
  • Hallie Quinn Brown — selected lecture excerpts...
  • Bishop Arnett — selected political speeches from the Ohio General Assembly.

Family Oral History Project: Who Built Your Family's Story?

Assignment

Interview a family member, elder, or community leader using the questions below. Your goal is to uncover your own family's institution builders — the people who changed opportunities for those who came after them.

Interview Questions:

1. Who in your family changed opportunities for future generations?

2. Who in your family or community has been forgotten — and why?

3. What sacrifices were made that were never publicly recognized?

4. What institutions (churches, schools, organizations) shaped your family?

5. What story do you wish more people knew?
Printable interview worksheet not-included.

Memorial Design Project: Who Gets Remembered?

You are a community historian and designer. Your city has decided to honor one of these three leaders publicly.
Choose your memorial format:

  • A statue
  • A museum exhibit
  • A community mural
  • A historical roadside marker
  • A digital memorial (website, interactive map, social campaign)

Design Prompt:

  • Who did you choose, and why?
  • What words would appear on or in the memorial?
  • Where in Wilberforce, Greene County, or your own community would you place it?
  • Who should fund it — and who should be involved in building it?
    [Printable design worksheet not-included in the full download pack.]

DISCUSSION GUIDE FOR FAITH COMMUNITIES

Faith + Freedom Questions

This guide is designed for church youth groups, adult Bible study, Sunday school, and congregational justice conversations.
Discussion Questions:

1.  What role did Black churches play in the liberation of Black people in America?
2. Why do some churches today avoid teaching difficult or painful history?
3. What responsibility does your congregation have to preserve and teach community history?
4. Bishop Arnett used the AME Church as a platform for political change. Is that appropriate? Why or why not?
5. How does honoring ancestors connect to your faith tradition?

TEACHER & PARENT GUIDE

This curriculum pack is designed to be flexible. Below are four suggested use cases:

1-Day Lesson Read one figure biography. Complete the exit reflection worksheet. Share one finding with the class or family.

1-Week Mini Unit

Day 1 — Introduction + Wilberforce context

Day 2 — Delany biography + reflection

Day 3 — Brown biography + reflection

Day 4 — Arnett biography + reflection

Day 5 — Memorial Design Project or Timeline Activity

Black History Month Adaptation Assign one figure per week across three weeks. Use the oral history project as a culminating assignment.

Church Youth Study Adaptation Use the Faith + Freedom discussion guide as an opening devotional. Assign one figure biography per session. Close with the memorial design activity as a group project.

 EXIT REFLECTION

Complete these three statements after finishing this curriculum pack:

1. One leader I will never forget is… (and why)
2. One institution we too often overlook is… (and why it mattered)
3. One memorial my town should build is… (describe it)
📄 Printable worksheet version not-included.

This Is Volume I

The Black & White History Project is just beginning.
Coming in Vol. II and beyond:

  • James Galloway Sr. —Revolutionary War soldier, Prominent pioneer who settled in Greene County, Ohio, where he became the first County Treasurer in 1803.
  • Helen Hooven Santmyer —American writer, educator, and librarian. Author of the best-selling epic "...And Ladies of the Club".
  • Mills Gardner —American attorney, Politician from Ohio, served as a U.S. Representative from the state's 3rd congressional district from.
  • Greene County's forgotten 'Black' towns.
  • Local protest and resistance history.

Join the mailing list at ghg21.org to get early access.
 
Archival images sourced from: Library of Congress · National Archives · Ohio History Connection · Wilberforce University Archives · Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
Make the ancestors proud.