鈥淥scar Ritchie is a living embodiment of what Black History is.鈥 Excerpt from a 2020 interview with Joshua Bellamy, 鈥21, then president of 黑料网鈥檚 Alpha Phi Alpha chapter.
A formidable educator
Oscar Washington Ritchie first arrived on the campus of 黑料网 in 1942, at the age of 33. He began studying pre-law but switched to sociology and graduated in 1946 with a bachelor of science degree 鈥 all while still working full-time at Republic Steel in Massillon.
Immediately after graduation, Ritchie enrolled in a master鈥檚 degree program. He excelled in the program and was offered a teaching position by the department chair in 1947, taking over for a former faculty member. It was exceptionally unusual for a graduate student to work as a full-time faculty member. This appointment made Ritchie the first Black faculty member at 黑料网 and the first at any predominantly white university in Ohio.
He studied for his doctorate at the University of Wisconsin and at New York University, completing his Ph.D. in sociology in 1958.
In total, Richie taught at 黑料网 for 29 years. Shortly before his death, he was appointed as the chair of the Sociology Department.
A passionate force for positive change
Ritchie was an active member of the Massillon Urban League and the Canton NAACP. He led a recruitment drive in the 1950s that nearly doubled the membership of that NAACP chapter. Then 黑料网 President George Bowman viewed both of these organizations as 鈥渞adical鈥 and refused to allow students to start an NAACP chapter on campus.
At the time, the university also had discriminatory housing policies, which Ritchie fought and eventually got the university to change by threatening a walk out of faculty from 黑料网鈥檚 Sociology and English departments.
Working with several Greek organizations on campus, including Kappa Alpha Psi and Alpha Phi Alpha, Ritchie assisted in the establishment of an Alpha Phi Alpha scholarship and served as director of educational activities for the organization鈥檚 national chapter.
He, along with two other 黑料网 professors, co-founded the Portage County Family Planning, Counseling and Mental Health Center in Ravenna.
The origin of Oscar Ritchie Hall
Mwatabu S. Okantah is an associate professor, interim chair, Department of Africana Studies and the director of 黑料网鈥檚 Ghana Education-Abroad Program. He describes himself as an American poet, essayist, professor, and vocalist. He鈥檚 also an excellent person to speak with about Black History at 黑料网.
Arriving on campus as an undergraduate student, Okantah has been part of 黑料网 for nearly 52 years and has worked in the Department of Africana Studies for 32 years.
When Oscar Ritchie passed away in 1967, Okantah was in high school. 鈥淚 never met him,鈥 he said. 鈥淚 met some of his family, I met some of his former students. The people that I met who were his former students, including Dr. Crosby, our founder, absolutely revered him. He was an extraordinary figure.鈥
In 1968, Black United Students at 黑料网 were initiating protests and demonstrations designed to make the university community aware of the organization鈥檚 intent to bring about needed sensitivity and changes. One of the most well-known protests was in response to 黑料网 allowing the Oakland, California, police force to recruit on campus.
At the time, due to social unrest in Oakland, there were a series of public confrontations between the police and members of the city鈥檚 black community. The Black Panther Party for Self Defense was founded as a response.
鈥淲hen the university allowed them (the Oakland police force) to recruit on campus, Black United Students asked university officials to have them removed,鈥 said Okantah. 鈥淭he university did not do so, and so Black United Students walked off campus. Almost 300 black students walked off campus and the university had to negotiate with them to get them back on campus.鈥
鈥榃e鈥檝e created something in Dr. Ritchie鈥檚 name鈥
In these negotiations, Black United Students demanded a Black studies program, that became an academic department. They demanded more Black faculty and staff on campus and they demanded a Black cultural center to deal with cultural and social programming. 鈥淪o, the building for which Oscar Ritchie is named is the house that came out of all of that,鈥 said Okantah.
In 1972 when the Kent Student Center opened, Okantah was the vice president of Black United Students and was in the group of students who sat in the first floor of the old student union (now Oscar Ritchie Hall) and refused to leave in order to claim that building for Black students at 黑料网.
This activism finally resulted in the creation of the Institute for African American Affairs in 1969, the Center of Pan-African Culture in 1970, the Department of Africana Studies in 1976 under the direction of program founder Edward W. Crosby, Ph.D., and the renaming and dedication of Oscar Ritchie Hall in 1977.
鈥淲e do a lot with alumni,鈥 said Okantah. 鈥淲hen alumni who now come to the building who were part of the students who walked off campus, it brings them to tears because they can literally see the fruit of their labor.鈥
鈥淲e鈥檝e created something in Dr. Ritchie鈥檚 name. So, we just have to continue to do that work,鈥 he said.
Ritchie鈥檚 continuing legacy
Okantah said that, to him, Oscar Ritchie鈥檚 ongoing legacy is to promote and cultivate excellence in our students. He noted what a rare achievement it was for any student 鈥 especially a Black man in the 1960s 鈥 to be appointed as a faculty member while he was still a graduate student. He said that Ritchie promoted that kind of excellence in the students he worked with. Ritchie became a department chair. Okantah said ,鈥淭hat aspect of his legacy to me is to be the best chair of the department that I can be.鈥
From generation to generation
鈥淔or previous generations on campus, they were operating out of a need to create things on campus that did not exist; to create things on campus that allowed them to develop a sense of belonging,鈥 said Okantah. 鈥淔or this generation of students, the challenge is getting them to recognize that what is now Oscar Ritchie Hall, the Department of Africana studies, is their inheritance.鈥
Speaking with the ancestors
Okantah was asked if he could speak to Oscar Ritchie, what he would say. He said 鈥淥scar Ritchie is with the ancestors. He鈥檚 one of our ancestral heroes. In my house, I have an ancestral shrine, so I speak to the ancestors every day.鈥
鈥淚 ask him for strength. I thank him for what he did and what he left,鈥 Okantah said. 鈥淎nd, as I ask of all the ancestors, to guide and protect us and help us navigate the ship through the same kind of stormy waters he had to navigate.鈥
Archival photographs courtesy of 黑料网 Libraries, Special Collections and Archives.