Watch for the next exhibit, coming this spring:
- Building an Education in the Humanities in Southeast Ohio
Humanities in the Park
Humanities in the Park
Educators, authors and artists are just a few of the people from Southeast Ohio's past and present appearing on new Humanities in the Park display panels at the city of Athens' Richland Avenue Park and on this website.
These interactive exhibits that explore different perspectives on how the humanities have shaped Athens and Southeast Ohio—and continue to be an important part of our daily lives and heritage.
Multiple themes will be explored in the display panels and on this website.
Women Promoting Education in Southeast Ohio
This exhibit tells the stories of diverse, notable women who have promoted the educational mission of Ohio University, the Athens community, and the state, from the 1840s to the 1980s.
Among these legendary women, you can find:
- A singer and actress
- The first woman to join Ohio University's faculty
- An early advocate for women's education
Claiming an Education: Early Black American Humanists
This exhibit explores the growth of the humanities in the community, from the perspective of the Black Americans who first studied and worked in and around Athens County.
Central figures in this exhibit include:
- John Newton Templeton, who in 1828 became Ohio University’s first Black American graduate
- Martha Jane Hunley Blackburn, the first Black American woman to graduate from OHIO
- The Albany Enterprise Academy, founded in 1863 so Black students would have access to higher education
Ohio’s First Humanists: Native Americans from Mound Building to Modern Voices
This exhibit traces Indigenous Americans’ material and cultural contributions to Ohio from their early creation of large earthworks to modern representations and reflections on the past.
- Learn about First Nations’ roles in shaping place names
- Get interpretive glimpses in to early Ohio’s history of Native American-white contact, which included collaboration, conflict, and removal.
- Explore present-day stewardship of Native American culture and art
About Humanities in the Park
Humanities in the Park is a collaborative project made possible, in part, by a grant from Ohio Humanities, a state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Multiple local organizations are coming together to create the exhibits, with the Athens Department of Arts, Parks and Recreation and the Athens County Public Libraries playing key roles in designing and maintaining the exhibits, which are written and researched by humanities faculty in the Charles J. Ping Institute for the Teaching of the Humanities. The Ohio University Libraries, in particular the Mahn Center for Archives & Special Collections and the Digital Initiatives Department, also are substantial contributors to this effort to highlight the humanities. The Central Region Humanities Center at Ohio University also is supporting the project.
Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this exhibit series and accompanying website do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Humanities in the Park is a collaborative project made possible, in part, by a grant from Ohio Humanities, a state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
This exhibit is part of the Humanities in the Park collaboration, curated and produced by the Ohio University Charles J. Ping Institute for the Teaching of the Humanities in the College of Arts & Sciencesthe Athens Department of Arts, Parks and Recreation, and the Athens County Public Libraries. The exhibits are written and researched by humanities faculty in the Ping Institute.
The Ohio University Libraries, in particular the Mahn Center for Archives & Special Collections and the Digital Initiatives Department, also are substantial contributors to this effort to highlight the humanities.