Kingsville in Ashtabula County, Ohio — The American Midwest (Great Lakes)

Albion Winegar Tourgée

Civil War Soldier, Attorney, Civil Rights Crusader, Novelist, and Journalist

Photographed by Craig Doda, January 10, 2023

1. Albion Winegar Tourgée Marker (front)

Inscription.
(front)
In this house Albion Tourgée lived many of his formative years. He was born about 30 miles south in Williamsfield in 1838. His family moved here in 1847 and he attended Kingsville Academy, where he met his future wife Emma Kilbourne. He served in two Union regiments—the 27th NYVI and the 105th OVI—and then moved to North Carolina after the war. There he rewrote the state constitution. to include civil rights guarantees, served as a judge, and fought the Ku Klux Klan. He began his writing career in N.C., authoring his first two novels, the most famous of which was A Fool's Errand, a highly autobiographical account of his days as a "carpetbagger." (Continued on other side) (back) (Continued from other side) In 1881 Tourgée moved to Mayville. N.Y., and continued his eclectic career. For a time he was a newspaper columnist and the publisher of a weekly news magazine, Our Continent. He was the lead attorney for Homer Plessy in the infamous case of Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896. Plessy was an African American who sued for the right to ride in a "whites only" railroad car. Though Plessy lost, the legal basis for

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segregation—using much of Tourgée's legal reasoning—was later overturned in Brown v. Board of Education in 1954. In his brief for the Plessy case, Tourgée coined the phrase "color-blind justice” to describe what should be the national norm. In 1897 Tourgée was appointed consul to Bordeaux, France, where he served until his death in 1905.

Erected by Kent State University-Ashtabula, Funding: Ashtabula County Bar Association Foundation.

Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Arts, Letters, Music • Civil Rights • War, US Civil.

Location. 41° 52.138′ N, 80° 39.976′ W. Marker is in Kingsville, Ohio, in Ashtabula County. It is on Ohio Route 193 0.8 miles south of Interstate 90, on the left when traveling south. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 5226 OH-193, Kingsville OH 44048, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Regionally, this marker is on Ohio’s Lake Erie Shore

and in the Western Reserve.

It is also in the American Midwest.

Globally, it is in North America,

on the Great Lakes,

in the Western Hemisphere,

Albion Winegar Tourgée Marker (back) image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Craig Doda, January 10, 2023

2. Albion Winegar Tourgée Marker (back)

in the Western World,

and in the Anglosphere.

Historically, it finds itself in what was once the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Confederacy,

the territory of the Mississippian Culture,

and the Northwest Territory.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 6 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies: Veterans Memorial (approx. 1.6 miles away); Old Brick Stagecoach Inn & Tavern (approx. 2.6 miles away); Ashtabula County Museums & Historical Points of Intrest (approx. 4.9 miles away); The Covered Bridges Of Ashtabula County (approx. 4.9 miles away); Indian Trails Park - Master Plan (approx. 4.9 miles away); Welcome To Ashtabula County Ohio (approx. 4.9 miles away); a different marker also named Veterans Memorial (approx. 5½ miles away); Peleg Sweet (approx. 5½ miles away).

Albion Winegar Tourgée Marker image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Craig Doda, January 10, 2023

3. Albion Winegar Tourgée Marker

Credits. This page was last revised on January 13, 2023. It was originally submitted on January 12, 2023, by Craig Doda of Napoleon, Ohio. This page has been viewed 509 times since then and 26 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3. submitted on January 12, 2023, by Craig Doda of Napoleon, Ohio. • Bernard Fisher was the editor who published this page.