In 1846, a group of 383 newly emancipated people attempted to disembark on the bank of the Miami & Erie Canal in Mercer County. Instead of a warm reception, they were met with a threat of violence. An armed militia of white townspeople stood in between them and their new home, 47 tracts of land purchased by the estate of their late captor, Virginia statesman John Randolph. Robbed of their inheritance, they returned to the canal, eventually settling in small pockets of neighboring areas such as Shelby County, Troy, and most notably, Rossville near Piqua.
The freedpeople of the Roanoke plantation never received a penny of their endowment. While enslaved, they worked to make another man wealthy. When freed, they encountered white hostility and aggression and were robbed at gunpoint. However, their story does not end in tragedy. Many of those who had been enslaved rose to national and local fame. Some fought in wars to preserve rights they had once been denied. Other community members altered the social fabric in subtler ways.
This is a story that has been told countless times, in many different traditions. It has appeared in the news since 1833 and up through the present. It is the subject of a handful of dissertations, published articles, and books. While biographies of John Randolph abound, no such definitive work exists on this topic.
The Randolph Freedpeople at a family reunion in Ohio. From NAAMCC, NAM MSS 2012
The Rossville Museum and Cultural Center was founded by Helen Gilmore. The contents of the museum are now housed at the NAAMCC. From NAAMCC, NAM MSS 2012.
In 2016, a crew of the National Afro-American Museum and Cultural Center (NAAMCC) staff, National Park Service interns, and Ohio History Connection employees traveled to the Rossville Historic House Museum where the late Helen Gilmore, a Randolph descendant, fought to keep this story alive. Upon her death, she and her husband bequeathed the museum’s contents to the NAAMCC. This included three-dimensional objects and a substantial archive collection, the Rossville Museum Archives Collection (NAM MSS 2012), including photographs, a family bible, a map of the African Jackson Cemetery in Rossville, and original paintings, among other local history treasures. This blog series briefly explores the history of the Randolph Freedpeople, commemorating their triumphs, legal battles, and local legacies.
