Taylor Turner on behalf of Gist Settlement

There’s something special about coming back together where history lives. We’re excited to announce the 2nd Annual Gist Settlement Family Reunion , a day dedicated to reconnecting with family, honoring our shared legacy, and creating new memories on the land that means so much to us. This gathering is more than just a reunion, it’s a chance to celebrate the story of Gist Settlement, one of Ohio’s earliest freed slave communities, and continue preserving its history for future generations....

Old photos don’t just show faces, they show responsibility, love, and survival. This fragment of a newspaper clipping, down by time, captures something powerful: a young mother and her children, typical of the Gist Settlement inhabitants. Her image tells the story of thousands of Black women whose lives did not make it into history books, yet they were the backbone of communities like this one. While land ownership, legal battles, and settlement records often dominate the conversation about...

In the early 1800s, the United States was a divided nation. Slavery was thriving in the South, while free Black communities were emerging...