The following extracts from a letter from the veteran educator, Peter H. Clark, shed a flood of light upon this early movement:
The people of Ohio held conventions annually for more than thirty years. Usually they printed their proceedings in pamphlets.
A peculiarity of the Ohio conventions was that they were meant to improve the condition of the colored people of that State. The conventions of those residing in the more eastern States were simply anti-slavery conventions, and their memorials and protests were aimed at slavery. The first conventions of the men of Ohio were self-helpful. By their own sacrifices and with the help of friends, they purchased lots and erected school houses in a number of towns, or they organized schools and located them in churches.
Active in this work were the Yancy's, Charles and Walter, Gideon and Charles Langston, (brothers of John M.), George Carey, Dennis Hill, and chief among them, David Jenkins. Walter Yancy was the agent of these men, travelling and organizing societies and schools, collecting funds, etc.
As a result of this self-helping movement, a number of farming communities were established, some of which accumulated large areas of land, and in Cincinnati, The Iron Chest Company accumulated funds and in 1840 erected a block of buildings which still stands.
Later, the action of the Convention was directed against the Black Laws of Ohio. These were repealed in 1849, and colored children were permitted to share in the benefits of the school funds, though in separate schools. The same legislature elected Salmon P. Chase to the United States Senate. The movement thus detailed was the result of a bargain between the Democrats of Ohio and the Free Soilers.
Afterwards the force of these conventions was directed against discriminations against colored people which still existed on the statute books. Sometimes this force took the shape of petitions, memorials, protests, and after the organization of the Ohio Equal Rights League, it took the shape of legal proceedings, etc.
One of the most memorable of these conventions was held in 1852, when John M. Langston delivered the best speech of his life, defending the thesis, "there is a mutual repellency between the white and black races of the world."