The Honorable Robert M. Duncan
Nominator: Urban League, Columbus
A native of Urbana, Ohio, Robert M. Duncan was the first African- American elected to the Franklin County Municipal Court (1966-1969). He was also the first African-American elected Justice to the Supreme Court of Ohio (1969-1971) and was also the first African-American appointed to both the United States Court of Military Appeals (1971-1974) and the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio (1974-1985). On March 8, 1977, Judge Duncan released his long-awaited ruling in Penick v. Columbus Board of Education which found the Columbus Public Schools Board of Education had intentionally created and maintained an illegally segregated school system.

Ruth Gonzales de Garcia
Nominator: Ohio Commission on Hispanic/Latino Affairs
Ruth Gonzales de Garcia was born in Toledo, Ohio in the early 1930s. She and her sisters rallied to establish the Guadalupe Mission Church in 1942 for Spanish-speaking residents. She continued to volunteer and devote herself to helping a host of Mexican immigrants who moved to Toledo after World War II. Specifically, she helped them find housing, employment, and loans. Additionally, she helped new residents with medical needs, legal court interpretation, income tax filing, and several other citizenship related issues. She encouraged voter registration and civic participation, and successfully lobbied to erect “El Centro Unico,” a community center for neighborhood children and senior citizens.

Toni Morrison
Nominator: Wright State University
Born in Lorain, Ohio, Toni Morrison’s own family moved to Ohio to escape discrimination in the South. Ms. Morrison is one of the most influential writers of our time and her work has greatly contributed to our collective understanding of the African-American struggle against racism, economic hardship and injustice, and the social tensions and inequities that exist in American society—as reflected in her novels Sula, Song of Solomon, Jazz, and Beloved. In 1987, Ms. Morrison became the first African-American female to hold a named chair at an Ivy League University, as the Robert F. Goheen Professor in the Council of Humanities at Princeton University. She is also the first African-American woman to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature (1993). Her other accomplishments include winning the Pulitzer Prize for her famed work, Beloved (1988), the Distinguished Contribution to American Letters Award (1996) and Honorary Doctor of Letters Degree from Oxford University (2005).

Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth
Nominator: National Underground Railroad Freedom Center
Born in 1922 in Alabama, Reverend Fred Lee Shuttlesworth organized the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights in 1956. In 1957, Reverend Shuttlesworth, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Ralph Abernathy and others organized the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). In March 1965, Reverend Shuttlesworth helped organize the historic march from Selma to Montgomery to protest voting discrimination in Alabama. Reverend Shuttleworth accepted a pastorate in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1961. In 1981, he established the Shuttlesworth Housing Foundation, which provides grants to help underprivileged families in Cincinnati become homeowners. His leadership and contribution to the civil rights movement have been invaluable both in Ohio and nationally.

Senator William F. Bowen
Nominator: Paul Booth, Citizen
William Bowen (Deceased— April 22, 1999) was one of the most influential African-American political leaders in the history of Ohio. He grew up in poverty in the West End of Cincinnati, graduated from Woodward High School and attended Xavier University. He was president of the Cincinnati Chapter of the NAACP from 1958 to 1964, then was elected to the Ohio House of Representatives in 1966. Four years later, he was appointed to, and then won on his own, the Ohio Senate seat for the 9th District and held the office until he retired in 1994. During his tenure in the Senate, Bowen earned a strong reputation as a champion of civil rights, fair housing, and affirmative action. He was the driving force behind legislation that established state set-asides that resulted in awarding state contracts to minority contractors. He was officially recognized by the 107th General Assembly for his outstanding leadership during the race riots in Cincinnati in the late 1960s.

Rev. Bruce Klunder
Nominator: Ohio Civil Rights Commission
Reverend Bruce W. Klunder (Deceased—April 7, 1964) was a white > Presbyterian minister and civil right activist born inOregon. > Reverend Klunder graduated from Yale University Divinity School and > then went to Cleveland in 1961 to accept a position as an Assistant > Executive Secretary of the Student Christian Union at Western > Reserve University. He quickly became involved the city’s civil > rights struggle. He had a passionate interest in civil rights as > demonstrated through his leadership of the local chapter of the > Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) where he led a restaurant sit-in > in Sewanee, Tennessee in 1962. In April, 1964, Reverend Klunder > and other demonstrators went to the Lakeview School construction > site to protest the building of this segregated school. During > this protest, Reverend Klunder and other protestors laid down in > the path of the bulldozer treads. Reverend Klunder laid in protest > behind the bulldozer whose driver did not see Reverend Klunder, but > by the time he stopped the machine, Klunder was crushed to death. > Reverend Klunder’s death further polarized the Cleveland community > because some saw his death as symbolic of the law’s failure to > provide justice and equality. Reverend Klunder is one of forty > individuals listed as a civil rights martyr on the national Civil > Rights Memorial in Montgomery, Alabama.

C.J. McLin, Jr.
Nominator: Wright State University
C. J. McLin, Jr. (May 31, 1921 - December 1988). Representative McLin was elected an Ohio State Representative in 1966 and quickly became one of the most influential leaders in the history of Ohio. He served 11 terms over the course of 22 years as an Ohio State Representative. C.J. McLin decided to enter politics after reflecting on his experience in the U.S. Army, where he had witnessed numerous examples of discrimination and was integral in organizing protests in pursuit of equality for minorities. In 1958, C.J. McLin founded the Democratic Voter’s League, an organization that took an assertive political stand and demanded that the Democratic Party assist blacks in obtaining quality jobs. The same year of his election, C.J. McLin founded the Black Elected Democrats of Ohio and served as its first president. Today, the organization is known as the Ohio Legislative Black Caucus. An advocate for access to higher education, C.J. McLin sponsored legislation establishing Wright State University’s School of Medicine and Professional Psychology, the Dayton Career Academy for Vocational Rehabilitation, the Miami Valley Regional Art and Cultural Council, and the renewal of downtown Dayton. One of C.J. McLin’s greatest legacies was obtaining state funding for the National Afro-American Museum and Cultural Center in Wilberforce, Ohio.

Carl B. Stokes
Nominator: Ohio Civil Rights Commission
Carl Burton Stokes (June 21, 1927–April 3, 1996), Mayor of Cleveland, Ohio from 1967-1971, proudly served as the firstAfrican- American mayor of any major U.S. city. He was also the first African-American Democrat elected to the Ohio House of Representatives in 1962 and served 3 terms. He initiated Cleveland: Now!, a publicly and privately funded program aimed at the revitalization of Cleveland neighborhoods. From 1983 to 1994, he served as a Judge in the Cleveland Municipal Court. President Bill Clinton then appointed Stokes as U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Seychelles and asked him to represent the United States on several goodwill trips abroad. He was awarded 12 honorary degrees, numerous civic awards. The US Federal Courthouse Tower in downtown Cleveland, completed in 2002, was named the Carl B. Stokes Federal Court House Building.