Sign-In
Cart
False Promises: The Struggle for Black Voting Rights in 1800s Ohio
Paperback
Black American StudiesRegional: MidwestSocial Movements
Publisher Price: $26.95
ISBN13: 9780804012577
Publisher: Swallow Press
Published: Oct 21 2025
Pages: 192
Weight: 0.60
Height: 0.70 Width: 5.50 Depth: 8.40
Language: English
Brings to life the struggle for Black suffrage in nineteenth-century Ohio
In False Promises, the fight for Black voting rights in Ohio comes alive through narratives of men of color who defied the state's nineteenth-century restrictions on suffrage. Though ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment ostensibly extended the franchise, state election laws still forced men of color into a perilous struggle for full citizenship. Ric S. Sheffield depicts their courage and determination, revealing their humanity through stories of sacrifice, resistance, and hope.
Drawing on Saidiya Hartman's concept of critical fabulation, Sheffield weaves together historical records with imaginative reconstructions of dialogue, setting, and descriptive elements beyond the dusty courthouse pages. Grounded in archival evidence yet reimagined to fill in the silences, these stories recount the lived experiences of those who risked everything to exercise their right to vote.
False Promises also connects these historical battles to the present, illustrating how voter-suppression tactics in today's Ohio have roots in the racial exclusions of the nineteenth century. By exposing the enduring legacy of white supremacist policies, the book challenges the widespread misconception that racial disenfranchisement was solely a southern problem. Ohio's complex racial history--noted for its role in the Underground Railroad but also for its repressive Black Laws--also includes a fierce and ongoing struggle over the right to vote. Through compelling storytelling, historical analysis, and a reclamation of voices lost to history, False Promises urges readers to reconsider their understanding of democracy and the right to vote.
Also in
Social Movements
Urban Revolutions: Urbanisation and (Neo-)Colonialism in Transatlantic Context
Kipfer, Stefan
Paperback
In Search of the Black Fantastic: Politics and Popular Culture in the Post-Civil Rights Era
Iton, Richard
Paperback
By the Light of Burning Dreams: The Triumphs and Tragedies of the Second American Revolution
Talbot, David
Talbot, Margaret
Hardcover
Revolution and Its Alternatives: Other Marxisms, Other Empowerments, Other Priorities
Brass, Tom
Paperback
Turning the Tide: U.S. Intervention in Central America and the Struggle for Peace
Chomsky, Noam
Paperback
With Liberty and Justice for Some: How the Law Is Used to Destroy Equality and Protect the Powerful
Greenwald, Glenn
Hardcover
Towards Collective Liberation: Anti-Racist Organizing, Feminist Praxis, and Movement Building Strategy
Crass, Chris
Paperback
Doing History from the Bottom Up: On E.P. Thompson, Howard Zinn, and Rebuilding the Labor Movement from Below
Lynd, Staughton
Paperback
They Stole a City: Wilmington's White Supremacist Coup and the Families Who Live with Its Legacy
Collins, Lauren
Hardcover
Let This Radicalize You: Organizing and the Revolution of Reciprocal Care
Hayes, Kelly
Kaba, Mariame
Paperback
Freedom Is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement
Davis, Angela Y.
Paperback
Mailman: My Wild Ride Delivering the Mail in Appalachia and Finally Finding Home
Grant, Stephen Starring
Paperback
Socialism: The Real History from Plato to the Present: How the Deep State Capitalizes on Crises to Consolidate Control [With Paperback Book]
Federer, William J.
Paperback
How Bright the Path Grows: The Untold Story of the Women Who Made the March on Washington
Chatelain, Marcia
Hardcover
In Sickness and in Health: Love Stories from the Front Lines of America's Caregiving Crisis
Mauldin, Laura
Hardcover
The Humanity Archive: Recovering the Soul of Black History from a Whitewashed American Myth
Fowler, Jermaine
Paperback
Killed to Order: China's Organ Harvesting Industry and the True Nature of America's Biggest Adversary
Jekielek, Jan
Hardcover
Korean Messiah: Kim Il Sung and the Christian Roots of North Korea's Personality Cult
Cheng, Jonathan
Hardcover
Exceptional Hatred: Antisemitism and the Fight Over Free Speech in Modern America
Loeffler, James
Hardcover
The Pursuit of Liberty: How Hamilton vs. Jefferson Ignited the Lasting Battle Over Power in America
Rosen, Jeffrey
Hardcover
The Death of Trotsky: The True Story of the Plot to Kill Stalin's Greatest Enemy
Ireland, Josh
Hardcover
Mailman: My Wild Ride Delivering the Mail in Appalachia and Finally Finding Home
Grant, Stephen Starring
Hardcover
Handbook for the Revolution: Building a More Perfect Union for the Twenty-First Century
Palmer, Derrick
Hardcover
I Won't Pretend These Missiles Are Stars: Life in Iran During the 12-Day War
Collective, The Cartoonist
Paperback
Strange People on the Hill: How Extremism Tore Apart a Small American Town
Hayden, Michael Edison
Hardcover
Searching for Jane Crow: Black Women and Mass Incarceration in America from the Auction Block to the Cell Block
Leflouria, Talitha L.
Hardcover
Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism: And Other Arguments for Economic Independence
Ghodsee, Kristen R.
Paperback
This Nonviolent Stuff'll Get You Killed: How Guns Made the Civil Rights Movement Possible
Cobb, Charles E., Jr.
Paperback
Blueprint for Revolution: How to Use Rice Pudding, Lego Men, and Other Nonviolent Techniques to Galvanize Communities, Overthrow Dictators, or Simply
Miller, Matthew
Popovic, Srdja
Paperback
A Flower Traveled in My Blood: The Incredible True Story of the Grandmothers Who Fought to Find a Stolen Generation of Children
Gilliland, Haley Cohen
Paperback
We've Been Here Before: How Rebellion and Activism Have Always Sustained America
Days, Michael I.
Dodson, Angela P.
Hardcover
College Girl, Missing: The True Story of How a Young Woman Disappeared in Plain Sight
Cohen, Shawn
Paperback
Irresistible Revolution: Marxism's Goal of Conquest & the Unmaking of the American Military
Lohmeier, Matthew
Hardcover
The Radical Fund: How a Band of Visionaries and a Million Dollars Upended America
Witt, John Fabian
Hardcover
How We Get Free (Updated 2nd Edition): Black Feminism and the Combahee River Collective
Taylor, Keeanga-Yamahtta
Paperback
We Are Heirs of the World's Revolutions: Speeches from the Burkina Faso Revolution 1983-87
Sankara, Thomas
Paperback
Moon U.S. Civil Rights Trail: A Traveler's Guide to the People, Places, and Events That Made the Movement
Moon Travel Guides
Douglas, Deborah D.
Paperback
Imperialism, The Highest Stage of Capitalism - A Popular Outline: Unabridged with original tables and footnotes (Aziloth Books)
Lenin, Vladimir Ilyich
Paperback
Black Marxism, Revised and Updated Third Edition: The Making of the Black Radical Tradition
Robinson, Cedric J.
Paperback
The Myth of Red Texas: Cowboys, Populism, and Class War in the Radical South
Griscom, David
Paperback
Against the State: Anarchists and Comrades at War in Spain, Myanmar, and Rojava
Stout, James
Paperback
Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America (20th Anniversary Edition)
Ehrenreich, Barbara
Paperback
Shattered Dreams, Infinite Hope: A Tragic Vision of the Civil Rights Movement
Terry, Brandon M.
Hardcover
Trade Up: Why the Future Belongs to Skilled Trades and How Career Education is Transforming the Workforce
Burr, Riley
Altmire, Jason
Paperback
As We Have Always Done: Indigenous Freedom Through Radical Resistance
Simpson, Leanne Betasamosake
Paperback
A Vindication of the Rights of Woman: With Strictures on Political and Moral Subjects
Wollstonecraft, Mary
Paperback
Recoding America: Why Government Is Failing in the Digital Age and How We Can Do Better
Pahlka, Jennifer
Paperback
Days of Rage: America's Radical Underground, the Fbi, and the Forgotten Age of Revolutionary Violence
Burrough, Bryan
Paperback
Be a Revolution: How Everyday People Are Fighting Oppression and Changing the World--And How You Can, Too
Oluo, Ijeoma
Paperback
The Revolution Will Not Be Funded: Beyond the Non-Profit Industrial Complex
Incite!, Incite! Women of Color Against
Paperback
The Naked Communist: Exposing Communism and Restoring Freedom
Skousen, Paul B.
Skousen, W. Cleon
Paperback
Joyful Militancy: Building Thriving Resistance in Toxic Times
Montgomery, Nick
Bergman, Carla
Paperback
Working: People Talk about What They Do All Day and How They Feel about What They Do
Terkel, Studs
Paperback
The Conviction Machine: Prosecutors, Politicians, and Police Violence in Chicago
Taylor, Flint
Paperback