by Cedric ‘BIG CED’ Thornton
June 9, 2025
Scipio Smith, a former slave, grew to become the town’s first Black enterprise proprietor within the 1800s.
Lancaster, Ohio’s very first Black enterprise proprietor, Scipio Smith, is being honored by the town with a statue that was simply accomplished.
In line with NBC 4I, the town of Lancaster is celebrating the primary Black enterprise proprietor, Scipio Smith, who achieved the standing within the 1800s. The situation of the statue is alongside Fundamental Avenue, which isn’t too removed from the place the businessman’s tinsmith store was. A former slave, he’s memorialized with a statue of him holding an open shackle with the day he was emancipated inscribed.
Michael Johnson, a neighborhood historian and the advertising and marketing director for the Fairfield County Heritage Affiliation, said that after discovering an entry about Smith in a historical past e book, he appeared additional into the previous slave, who was enslaved in Virginia earlier than being dropped at Ohio.
“That was his means of exhibiting you may’t cease me, even this chain didn’t maintain me down,” mentioned Johnson. “You’ll be able to’t get far more of an underdog than being born a slave and shedding your leg as a baby.”
Whereas discovering out extra details about Smith, he found that 4 years after he was freed, he based the AME church, which is now Allen Chapel.
“To know he was proper right here, to know he was accountable for this church,” mentioned Evan Saunders, Pastor of Allen Chapel. “You don’t even know the lives he’s touched, however but right here, 2025, we notice he’s touching an entire group with that, so his legacy nonetheless continues to stay on.”
Two years after opening the church, Smith opened his tinsmith store in Lancaster.
“He was fairly fast to behave as soon as he received his freedom. He knew what he needed,” Johnson mentioned. “And he opened up the door for different Black enterprise house owners.”
After Johnson wrote a narrative about Smith, desirous to honor him extra, he began a fundraiser two years in the past that led to the statue being made.
“For me, I believe statues are celebrations, they’re folks we ought to be wanting as much as, the beliefs they symbolize, and Scipio, you may’t beat his work ethic, his religion, his tenacity, the flexibility to beat unbelievable obstacles. You’ll be able to’t beat that story,” Johnson mentioned.
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