Spotlight on History
Former slaves found freedom in Ravenna
Black Portage County residents helped build the community we love today. For Black History Month, we’re sharing their stories.
By Roger Di Paolo
They were born into bondage, a part of one of the most shameful chapters in American history.
Separated from their families, they were owned by other men, toiling long hours for them, earning nothing, owning nothing, without recourse for changing their lives.
By different paths they found their way to Ravenna, where they lived in freedom until the end of their days, finding final rest in Maple Grove Cemetery, two beneath a towering monument that became a cemetery landmark, the third lying in an unmarked grave for nearly 60 years until an interfaith effort helped raise money for a tombstone.
Henry and Rebecca Brantley were born into slavery in Clarksville, Tenn. — Henry in about 1825, Rebecca about eight years later — on the Abraham Brantley plantation and took their names from their owner. They were allowed to marry in 1852, but the bonds of marriage did not prevent them from being separated and sold.
