LONGTOWN

Payhip Book Description

LONGTOWN: The Black Settlement America Almost Forgot

Long before the better-known stories of Black towns and communities entered American history, a remarkable settlement emerged along the Ohio–Indiana border.

Longtown tells the compact history of a community built around freedom, landownership, education, family, and self-determination. At its center were James and Sophia Clemens, whose lives became part of a larger story involving free Black settlers, interracial families, the Underground Railroad, and the pursuit of education during an era when racial restrictions shaped nearly every aspect of American life.

This book explores the development of Longtown and the neighboring Greenville Settlement, the establishment of the Union Literary Institute, connections to freedom seekers, and the people who fought to preserve the community's history generations later.

Longtown: The Black Settlement America Almost Forgot restores attention to a chapter of American history that deserves to be remembered.

By Darren R. Kelley