By Liz Thomas

Feb 9, 1874 Yesterday more than 50 Oxford women met at the Methodist Church and then proceeded to march down High Street. The women were members of the Oxford Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU). As they made their way down the road, they sang hymns, prayed, and tried to persuade saloon owners to shut down.    They visited 11 saloons in just the first day and have no plans to slow down. They say that they are on a crusade and won’t stop until there is legal prohibition of all alcoholic beverages.  Some saloons welcomed them in, others refused to let them enter. If that was the case they took to the sidewalk and sang and prayed for the men entering.     At each saloon the WCTU requested that the owner sign a pledge declaring that they will no longer serve or sell alcohol. None committed to the pledge.   Not even the slightest bit discouraged, the women plan to pressure and disrupt normal business until every saloon owner in Oxford complies.  Even some men in Oxford have joined the women in their fight. More than 30 men also gathered at the Methodist Church yesterday morning. The men stayed at the church to pray while the women began their march.   College towns in Ohio have really been a hot bed for temperance activity. Just two months ago the women of Hillsboro, Ohio started the marching for saloon closings.  The movement is very big in areas that have women’s colleges. The women say that is the case because educating women is their most powerful tool.   The women are also fighting to end domestic violence, and prostitution which they believe stems from men being out drinking.  The WCTU is currently holding weekly meetings and planning more protests on uptown Oxford.

Culture in the 1960's

By Dan French

In the late 1960’s Miami students were not afraid to express opinions of dissent against their elders.  Many student groups appeared on campus hoping to gain more rights for students and to help students express their feelings.  Students felt that they had to speak above their professors and administrators in order to be heard and understood.  One such instance of this was a protest in 1969 where students sat-in at the Alumni Library protesting the fact that the library closed at midnight.  Student groups also brought speakers to campus that administrators were not very fond of such as LSD prophet Timothy Leary who lectured students about the benefits of marijuana use.

SONG:  "I'm Going to Say It Now" by Phil Ochs, performed by Dan French

   Miami's campus also brought many world famous musicians to town for students' enjoyment.  From March 1968-November 1969 alone Miami brought in Peter, Paul & Mary, Judy Collins, and Simon & Garfunkel.  All 3 of these enormously popular acts are known for their protest music.  Notably Judy Collins could frequently be found at anti-war rallies in the late '60's and early '70's singing protest songs such as Bob Dylan's "The Times, They Are A-Changing” which reflects student feelings at that time.

SONG:   "The Times, They are a-Changing" by Bob Dylan, performed by Dan French

     Fortunately, in such dark and challenging times, students felt the need to be lighthearted sometimes.  Students had no problems poking fun at themselves, their peers and their elders who described themselves as “liberal” and who saw liberal ideas as the bastion of hope for the world.

SONG:  "Love Me, I'm A Liberal" by Phil Ochs, performed by Dan French

Chronological Events of Freedom Summer

By Miguel Balboa

Western College to Host Freedom Summer in Upcoming June
June  5, 1964

Due to the cancellation at Berea College, Western College is scheduled to host a two-week Freedom Summer orientation in June. President Young of Western College, is said to be expecting 450 to 550 students and volunteers to attend the orientation. The Council of Federated Organizations (COFO) has formed four branches of civil rights groups to counter the prejudice occurring in Mississippi. The four branches under COFO are the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SLCC), the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), and finally the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). Due to the lack of reinforcement for black voters COFO has organized The Mississippi Summer Project in hopes to increase black voter registration. Most significant to Oxford and Western College is SNCC, who will hold training and seminars for students and volunteers willing to become involved. At the head of this organization is Charlie Cobb, who is currently a black member of SNCC. It is Cobb’s goal to staff the Freedom Schools with the volunteers that would attend Miami University’s Freedom Summer (as well as other universities) in order to achieve three things:

1. Supplement what they aren’t learning from the state
2. Give them broad intellectual and academic experience during the summer to bring back to fellow students in the state
3. Form the basis for a statewide student action, such as boycotts based on their increased awareness.

The volunteers who are to become teachers and nonviolent activist begin their summer at Miami University for an orientation program, which is being sponsored by the National Council of Churches

Students Are Ready, Willing, and Able
June 15, 1964

This summer of 1964 has been known as The Mississippi Summer Project. Around Western College, in Oxford, Ohio, the project is better known as “Freedom Summer.” This past season over 1000 students nationwide visited Western College’s campus with one task to complete – to train and become involved in the Mississippi Summer Project. The students who assembled on Western College campus were a diverse group made up of white and black boys and girls. Students and volunteers alike have come from Georgia, Mississippi, California, Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts, Ohio, Texas, New York, New Jersey, Oregon, and North Dakota. Most local Oxford residents view these students as naïve as to what they are going to experience. Majorie Henderson, a student at Marysville, Tennessee counters this opinion by stating, “Anybody who isn’t afraid isn’t very realistic, but I think this is very important.” Although the volunteers were viewed as young and naïve, many of them understand the potential severities and risks in their near futures. Other students have reciprocated that same feeling as they prepare for their departure at the end of this week.

           
A Summer to Remember
June 15, 2000

Although the Freedom Summer campaign was met with ignorance and unrequited hate and violence, the heart of the campaign exposed the younger generation’s involvement during the Civil Rights Movement. After Miami University’s acquisition of Western College in 1974, the university along with the city of Oxford combined their efforts to dedicate a memorial to the Freedom Summer, in April 2000. The memorial was erected to "honor the young volunteers involved in the historic voter registration drive of 1964 and symbolizes appreciation for the idealism of young people everywhere whose sacrifices have created a more just society." The Freedom Summer memorial stands as a reminder to each Miami student -- past, present, and future -- has a deeply rooted investment in the rights of others, regardless of gender, class, or race.

Take virtual Freedom Summer Tour here

By Lauren Roberts

Local Female Confederate Spy Evades Authorities

By Grant Cooper

March 17th 1862

Charlotte “Lottie” Moon, a Virginian, who had spent her early youth in Oxford, Ohio, was a highly educated woman so skillful and so beguiling with the powers of mimic that she proved herself a loyal servant for the Southern cause during the Civil War.  When still a young woman, Charlotte’s father moved the family to Oxford, Ohio where his daughters, Charlotte and Virginia quickly became the “belles” of the town.  Also, the girls became especial objects of devotion to students at Miami University.   Charlotte attracted the attention of prominent young locals like the soon-to-be General Burnside, then a young collegian completely devout in his love for her.  However, it was Butler County’s young lawyer, James Clark, who finally, after Burnside went east, succeeded in “tying-down” Miss Charlotte Moon. 

Mrs. Clark was a fascinating woman, petite and charming, with an independence and courage far beyond the women of her day.  After her marriage, Mrs. Clark lived at Jones Station, a few miles outside of Hamilton.  When the war broke out, Mrs. Clark's interest and sympathies were entirely with the South and a woman with her strength and conviction could not be lukewarm in anything.  She had to become involved somehow.  Then, one day she received a visit from Walker Taylor, an old friend from Jefferson County, Kentucky and a nephew of former President Zachary Taylor.  Taylor was known throughout the North and the South to be a Confederate spy. Taylor himself boasted of that, but at the time he chose to visit Charlotte his business in Cincinnati was buying mules to restock his farm in Kentucky.  To get into Cincinnati, Taylor bore a fictitious name, and suspicion for the time was diverted from him.  However, on the occasion of his visit to Mrs. Clark, Taylor was in a state of great excitement.

Taylor went on, “I have dispatches from General Price,” he said, “and they must go forward.  What shall I do?  I dare not go to Cincinnati, and there is no other way for me to get to Lexington.  There are many soldiers on the watch and they would surely stop me at once.”

“Who are the dispatches for?” asked Mrs. Clark.

Taylor remarked, “Kirby Smith, and they are of the utmost importance.  They must be sent.”

Mrs. Clark felt that between safety and patriotism there was but one choice and being a woman of action, she asked quickly, “Are the dispatches in such shape that anyone could carry them?”

“Yes,” replied Taylor

With that, Mrs. Clark said, “very well, I will go myself.”  Just a few hours later a woman with an old bonnet tied over her ears partly concealing her face, with a dilapidated shawl around her neck emerged at the Newport ferry and crossed into Kentucky.
Upon arriving in Lexington, Mrs. Clark delivered the dispatches to General Kirby Smith and quickly made her way back toward the Union line in Cincinnati.  However, soon after the safe delivery of the dispatches, while on her way back to Cincinnati, it was discovered that a southern spy had penetrated the Union lines and was returning to Cincinnati.  At the Newport ferry in Kentucky, Mrs. Clark used her acting abilities to become the wife of an Irish soldier and was able to impose the disguise on General Wesley Combs. General Combs was an ex-governor of Kentucky and a staunch union man, who would have, “lost his right arm rather than aid in anything detrimental to the Union.”

At the Newport ferry, Mrs. Clark began crying.  This appealed to the sympathy of the General, who was accompanied by his wife, she asked why Charlotte wept.  Unknowingly, the General and his wife had fallen into Charlotte’s trap.  Mrs. Clark then sprung into a story of being a stranger in a strange land, with her dying husband at the front and poor dear children alone at home.  This story touched General Wesley Combs so much that he made sure Mrs. Clark made it on the ferry and safely across the Ohio River.

This was Mrs. Clarks first known case of espionage.  Both local and federal authorities are trying to track Mrs. Clark down at the moment and a 10,000 dollar reward has been offered to anyone who can aid in her capture.  Will Mrs. Clark be captured or will she remain on the run throughout the War?  Only time will tell.

On Feb. 9, 1874, women flooded the streets of Oxford in their fight for temperance.

(Intersection of Main St. and High St. shown.)

Group uniting at Fredom Summer

Students singing at Freedom Summer

Freedom Summer Memorial site

Students singing at Freedom Summer