Remarkable Ohio

Counties

Below is a complete listing of all Ohio Historical Markers. To find a detailed marker listing including text, photographs, and locations, click on a county below. Our listing is updated by the markers program as new markers are installed and older markers are reported damaged or missing.

8-65 Political Meeting at Second Baptist Church

Side A: In 1870, African American men in Circleville attempted to vote in municipal elections. Despite the recent ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment, pollsters refused their votes on the basis that state law forbade them from receiving the ballots. The Second Baptist Church was the site of a meeting of 147 African American men seeking redress. Together with Republican leaders these men produced petitions that were sent to the United States Senate and House of Representatives. These petitions gave the Republican Party the grounds to introduce bills to enforce the Fifteenth and Fourteenth Amendments. The passage of the Enforcement Act of 1870 imposed criminal penalties for interference with the right to vote and also helped to shift power and authority from the individual state legislatures to the centralized Federal government.
Side B: Same
Sponsors: Ohio Bicentennial Commission, The Longaberger Company, Briartown Publishing, Faith Ministries, Inc., Second Baptist Church, Pickaway County African American Preservation Association, St. Paul African Methodist Episcopal, and The Ohio Historical Society
Address: 130 W. Mill Street, 
Circleville, 
OH, 
43113
Location: Second Baptist Church, 130 W. Mill St.
Latitude: 39.5981880
Longitude: -82.9481330