By Mike Templeton
The City of Cincinnati and the Cincinnati Charter Committee are celebrating 100 years of the Cincinnati Charter, the guiding document for local government in Cincinnati. Something like the Charter Committee perhaps does not grab attention quite like the glitz and glam of Blink, but it is a central feature of local history and the ways we are governed in the City of Cincinnati. Of particular importance to the Urban Appalachian Community Coalition are the people of the Charter Committee who formed alliances with urban Appalachian activists toward advocating on behalf of urban Appalachians.
The Film “Reform on the River” has been re-released as part of the ongoing celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Charter Committee. This film tells the story of the formation of the Charter Committee against the old Boss system that had plagued Cincinnati for decades. By the start of the 1920s, Cincinnati was considered the worst governed city in the entire United States. The city had been in the grip of George “Boss” Cox for thirty years, and he handed over that mantle to Rud “Boss” Hynicka who continued the system of corruption that dominated the city. Hynicka ran the city from Ney York City where he ran a string of burlesque houses. The system of bossism and political corruption was so powerful it crushed any and all opposition. By the early 1920s, large numbers of people had grown tired of being dominated by these criminals and a few brave souls stepped forward to form what would become the Charter Committee of Cincinnati—a political force dedicated to democracy and principles of good government who would finally successfully defeat the boss system and reclaim city government.
Some of these names are familiar to us. Murray Seasongood, for whom Seasongood Pavillion in Eden Park is named, led the Committee and became the first mayor of Cincinnati under the Charter that emerged in 1924 with his leadership. The Cincinnati Charter is in essence the city’s constitution. It was intended to form the basis of sound government after the corruption of bossism. The Charter created a system that relies on a council-manager administration which is designed to eliminate the kinds of political patronage that gave rise to bossism and its attendant corruption. The system of proportional representation spelled out in the Charter is intended to make for a fair system of inclusion for participation across the city. The Charter, although amended over the years, remains the basis for local government in the City of Cincinnati.
During the early days of urban Appalachian advocacy, the emerging groups who spoke for the urban Appalachian population, led by people like the late Ernie Mynatt and Core member Michal Maloney, saw that there was a need to form alliances with other groups in the city to amplify the voices of urban Appalachian people. Michael Maloney told me, “the early advocacy groups were small and remained weak. We needed sanction from other groups, and we gained this by forming alliances to accrue strength from other groups and from the combined force of these groups.” The first alliances, as we noted in our previous post on urban Appalachian advocacy, were with the United Methodist Church and the Archdiocese of Cincinnati. It was the alliances with Charter members that gave a tremendous boost to urban Appalachian advocacy.
Maloney recalled that his mentor, late Appalachian scholar, Doctor Frank Foster, “had encouraged me to join the Charter Committee, and I did, along with Core member Maureen Sullivan.” It was through relationships formed in the Charter Committee that some of the most forceful work of urban Appalachian advocacy was accomplished. People like Charterite and former Mayor Bobbie Sterne became sympathetic to the needs of urban Appalachians worked on our behalf. Charterite Dwight Tillery actively campaigned on behalf of urban Appalachians, and he helped yoke the urban Appalachian missions to other things like the Civil Rights movement in the city. The city Charter opened political channels that made way for the alliances formed by Maloney and others which led to the emergence of the Urban Appalachian Council and, of course, the Urban Appalachian Community Coalition.
Michael Maloney is careful to explain that, while the Charterites were extremely important, other allies within the city helped accelerate the work of urban Appalachian advocacy. Maloney told me he worked closely with members of the Junior League of Cincinnati. It was the Junior League who saw first-hand the impoverished conditions in which so many urban Appalachians lived and became staunch advocates. The Junior League would become so instrumental that they would give us the Appalachian Festival in 1971, using proceeds from the festival to fund things like re-opening the Drop Inn Center, educational programs, and a writing course for Appalachian heritage. Maloney also mentioned the Cincinnati Women’s Club and Chatfield College as other powerful allies for urban Appalachians.
Michael Maloney was eventually given by Charterite Mayor Bobbie Sterne the task of writing the clause in the City of Cincinnati Human Rights Ordinance that pertains specifically to people of Appalachian descent. Over the decades, members of the Charter Committee have shown themselves to be fierce allies of urban Appalachians. I would suggest that the important lesson to take from this history, and it is something I have sought to repeatedly emphasize, is that urban Appalachians have been central to the history of Greater Cincinnati. As a unique and distinct group of people, we have made contributions that form the bedrock of the civic and cultural makeup of the City of Cincinnati. The Urban Appalachian Community Coalition continues to work toward the goals and ideals that began with these early alliances with the Charter Committee and others.
You can watch the film, Reform on the River, at this link: Reform on the River – Eight Minute Version.
You can learn more about the Charter Committee on their website: https://www.chartercommittee.org/copy-of-century-of-charter-2.
Michael Templeton is a writer, and independent scholar. He is the author of The Chief of Birds: A Memoir published with Erratum Press and Impossible to Believe, forthcoming from Iff Books. He is also the author of Collected Apoems, forthcoming from LJMcD Communications and the awaiting of awaiting: a novella, with Nut Hole Publishing. Check out his profile in UACC’s Cultural Directory. He has published numerous articles and essays on contemporary culture and works of creative non-fiction as well as experimental works and poetry. He lives in West Milton, Ohio with his wife who is an artist.