Shaping the Promised Land: The Great Migration Comes to Columbus, Ohio - Part 3

By Matt Doran

If Ohio was to be the Promised Land that many African-American migrants had sought, it would take much work to accomplish.  Just as African Americans took an active role in moving north, they engaged in an equally determined effort to shape the Promised Land. 

In Ohio’s capital city of Columbus, a variety of organizations emerged to aid the growing urban African-American population. African-American leaders in Columbus took decisive steps to counter the problems of Columbus, including social ills, crime, and white prejudice and discrimination. Most of the governing boards of these organizations were interracial, and they were predominantly staffed by African Americans. 

Organizations included:

• Young Men’s Christian Association (African American Branch- Spring Street), founded 1912. Provided opportunities for spiritual, intellectual, and physical growth; food, shelter. Included a Business and Professional Men’s Club.
• National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (Columbus Chapter), founded 1915. Advocated for civil rights, especially lobbying for the Beatty Civil Rights Bill.
• Columbus Home for Colored Girls, founded 1917. Offered shelter, promoted the “social, moral, intellectual, industrial and religious advancement of women and girls.”
• Young Women’s Christian Association (African American Branch – E. Long), founded 1918. Provided inexpensive emergency housing for women.
• Columbus Urban League, founded 1918. Empowered African Americans to enter the economic and social mainstream. Placed unemployed persons in jobs, provided adult education, and assistance in housing.

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The efforts by the African-American community to weaken the city’s color line provide early examples of grassroots efforts to achieve racial equality.  These methods served as a foundation for civil rights activism in subsequent decades.