False Promises

"Ohio is understood as a free state, but this book reveals that voter suppression is nothing new. Through extensive research and engaging portraits, Ric S. Sheffield introduces us to Black men who defended their rights with courage, faith, collaboration, and tenacity. This book provides us with an Ohio history that is more honest and more human. It’s an inspiring and edifying read." - Rachel Jamison Webster, author of ​Benjamin Banneker and Us: Eleven Generations of an American Family

"Law is often viewed as separate from the daily lives of human beings but law and humanity are intricately intertwined. Law is understood best when presented within the context of narratives about the lives of those impacted. Storytelling focuses upon the human experience as opposed to conventional law texts, which tend to convey detachment and an indifference to the impact of legal structures and institutional processes. False Promises expertly brings to life the struggle for voting rights in Reconstruction era Ohio told through the stories of those who lived it. False Promises enables us to know and care about the forgotten heroes who refused to be denied their humanity and their right to vote. It also reminds us that history is now." - Naomi Raquel Enright, author of Strength of Soul

"False Promises reminds us that the power of law resides in its capacity to bring about justice. It seeks to confront a lengthy history of American injustice through its stories about how the concept of democracy rang hollow in the face of resistance to the Black vote in Reconstruction-era Ohio." - Francis V. Gourrier, Kenyon College

"More than 150 years after the passage of the fifteenth amendment to the U.S. Constitution, racialized struggles around voting rights are ongoing. Ric S. Sheffield’s book details Reconstruction-era struggles for Black equality in the rural Midwest, making visible a previously overlooked aspect of Civil Rights history and enriching our understanding of the rich variations in Black experience across the country. Sheffield skillfully weaves the available fragments of fact and adds “flesh” to those historical bones, bringing the stories of individuals to life, and thereby drawing readers into deeper engagement with ongoing struggles for racial justice. In addition to its contributions to Civil Rights history, legal studies, and midwestern history, this book makes important contributions to the study of mixed race. Scholars frequently discuss the litigation around mixed race in relation to marriage or segregation, but as Sheffield shows through his analysis of the application of the “visible admixture” standard, racial definition and classification were also key in the context of voting." - Jené Schoenfeld, Kenyon College