This slim volume tells a remarkable story in such undecorated prose, the reader sometimes must go back to read again before grasping the meaning of what’s just happened. An African-American woman now in her advanced 90s was a leading force in the desegregation of Cincinnati’s Coney Island amusement park and Cincinnati schools, and in furthering accommodation of African-American voters. This person, who would be the first black woman to serve on Cincinnati’s City Council and who became a continuing thorn in the side of segregationists, is Marian Alexander Spencer, born in 1920 in Gallipolis, Ohio. Her story is told by friend and colleague Dorothy H. Christenson and by Spencer herself in a manuscript originally meant for her children and grandchildren, but inserted here in sections within the individual chapters. Christenson subtitles the book “The Life and Civil Rights Legacy of Marian A. Spencer.”
Her story begins in Gallipolis, where Spencer grew up in a stable, supportive family that valued education and the right to vote — ideas she would carry on. Marian Alexander met Donald Spencer while still in school and married him when she was only 20, but finished college and settled into a family life in Cincinnati with children, a house and then a part-time job. But in the meantime, she was becoming a citizen activist, and it is that, of course, that brings her story to an audience beyond her family. Donald Spencer, an attorney and strong supporter of her many causes, died in 2010.
The second section of this four-part book is given over to the growing importance of Spencer’s activist accomplishments; the third deals with her family life, and the important fourth section chronicles “Desegregation Suits and Continuing Battles.” Reproductive rights are another front that engages Spencer’s concern. The book ends with a series of appendices and a daunting bibliography.
The book’s upbeat tone reflects few difficult periods. It remains a book for the Spencer children and grandchildren. Perhaps someone else will write a Spencer biography that takes in a larger picture. Grade: B
This article appears in Aug 5-11, 2015.