Marian A. Spencer Endowed Scholarship
Facilitated by Dot Christenson
Marian Alexander Spencer, granddaughter of an emancipated slave, was born in June 1920 in the small town of Gallipolis, Ohio. She and her twin sister were co-valedictorians of the newly integrated Gallia Academy high school– due to the efforts of her grandfather. She then attended the University of Cincinnati, where she could not live on campus, take swimming or music classes, or attend the Senior Ball. She graduated with a degree in English History in 1942. By 1950, she was credited with the integration of the entire University of
Cincinnati campus.
In 1948, as President of the local Black YWCA, she merged the Black YWCA chapter with the local white Metro chapter, resulting in desegregation of the Y’s swimming pool, cafeteria, and summer camp. She was responsible for the desegregation of all YW’s throughout the country by 1950. She later became the first Black woman on the University Board of Trustees. Today, Marian Spencer Hall is an integrated dormitory on the University of Cincinnati campus and the first named statue for a woman in Cincinnati.
Spencer had a long list of “firsts.” She led the effort to integrate Cincinnati’s Coney Island Entertainment Park in 1952; first Black candidate for the Cincinnati School Board in 1973; first female president of the local NAACP, and the first Black woman elected to
Cincinnati City Council. She served as Vice Mayor in 1984; first woman president of the Cincinnati chapter of NAACP, and many more.
Marian married Donald Spencer in 1940 while she was still a student. Together the two became known as Mr. and Mrs. Civil Rights of Cincinnati. The street on the East side of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, of which she was a co-founder, is named
Marian Spencer Way. The opp0site side of the building is named for Rosa Parks.
Marian’s story is an inspiration to everyone interested in racial struggles throughout the 20 th century. Her lifetime theme was Be Smart, Be Polite, and Vote! She died shortly after her 99th birthday in 2019. For more information see her biography: Keep on Fighting: The Life and Civil Rights Legacy of Mary A. Spencer, by Dorothy Christenson.