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Richard L. Davis Historical Marker Fundraiser

This Fundraising Campaign is to raise funds that will go towards erecting a historic marker in the town of Rendville, Ohio commemorating Richard L. Davis.

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Richard L. Davis Historical Marker Fundraiser

Richard L. Davis Historical Marker Fundraiser

Richard L. Davis Historical Marker Fundraiser

Richard L. Davis Historical Marker Fundraiser

Richard L. Davis Historical Marker Fundraiser

This Fundraising Campaign is to raise funds that will go towards erecting a historic marker in the town of Rendville, Ohio commemorating Richard L. Davis.

This Fundraising Campaign is to raise funds that will go towards erecting a historic marker in the town of Rendville, Ohio commemorating Richard L. Davis.

This Fundraising Campaign is to raise funds that will go towards erecting a historic marker in the town of Rendville, Ohio commemorating Richard L. Davis.

This Fundraising Campaign is to raise funds that will go towards erecting a historic marker in the town of Rendville, Ohio commemorating Richard L. Davis.

Tiffany Laipply
Tiffany Laipply
Tiffany Laipply
Tiffany Laipply
1 Campaign |
Rendville, United States
$60 USD 3 backers
2% of $2,500 Flexible Goal Flexible Goal

Richard L. Davis was a prominent African American labor organizer in the Little Cities of Black Diamonds. 

Davis was born in Roanoke, Virginia in 1864. After spending several years working at a tobacco factory, he became a coal miner. He eventually settled in Rendville, Ohio, where he became involved in the labor movement. 
Rendville is located in Perry County. Traditionally, white miners refused to  hire African-American miners. William P. Rend, the founder of Rendville and owner of a mine in this community, hired large numbers of African Americans as well as Eastern European immigrants.. Rend was well known for his kindness to his employees. Despite this, his workers sought to protect themselves by joining unions. Davis worked as an organizer for the Knights of Labor. He visited communities across southeastern Ohio, actively recruiting union members. 

In 1890, Davis joined a conference in Columbus, Ohio that led to the formation of  the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA). In 1895, while on an inspection of working conditions in the mines in the Hocking Valley section of Ohio, UMWA leaders, including Davis, went to the Mercer Hotel in Corning, Ohio. A meeting with Ohio to have dinner. However, visitors from West Virginia objected to Davis's presence because of his race. When the hotel owner removed Davis from the establishment, the UMWA leadership collectively walked out in protest. Davis filed a complaint with the Ohio government, and the Mercer Hotel became the first Ohio business sued under the state's anti-discrimination laws.

Davis dedicated his life to improving working conditions for all miners. 
Despite the racism that he faced, Davis actively recruited African Americans to join the UMWA. The UMWA contends that at least twenty thousand blacks joined the organization because of Davis's efforts. 


As a Little City of Black Diamonds, Rendville currently is the site of an Ohio Historical Marker that tells the story of how African Americans broke the color line in this former mining community of Rendville. However, there is no such marker to commemorate the important and historic work that Richard L. Davis did in Southeast Ohio and across the Appalachian region in Virginia and as far away as Alabama. 

Please contribute to this important campaign to recognize a civil rights leader who put a small mining town on the national map. 
The LIttle Cities of Black Diamonds Council needs to raise  $2,500 in order to dedicate an Ohio Historical Marker to recognize Richard L. Davis. 

For more information on the Little Cities of Black Diamonds Council and the important work that they do visit:

Little Cities of Black Diamonds


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