Marian Spencer

Civil Rights activist Marian Spencer became the first African American woman elected to Cincinnati City Council in 1983. Born in 1920, Spencer was inspired to work on civil rights by growing up in a racially integrated, but internally segregated high school where she was barred from participating in athletics and other extracurricular activities. Spencer’s grandfather, a former slave, was also a major inspiration to Spencer, reminding her regularly that "You can do anything you want to do. Don't let anybody tell you differently." Her most well-known achievement was the desegregation of Coney Island amusement park, accomplished by a lawsuit Spencer filed after being threatened by an employee of the park brandishing a firearm (NAACP Legal Action vs. Coney Island, Cincinnati, Ohio). Spencer was also the first female president of Cincinnati’s NAACP chapter, and served as Vice Mayor of the City of Cincinnati. This residence hall named after Marian Spencer was constructed in 2018.