The Early Black History of Carmel

January 30, 2023

The Black history of Carmel predates the platting of the town by almost two decades. Before the pioneers settled the area, a Black man named Pete lived among the Lenape near the city’s northeast side.

In the decades that followed, many Black men, women and children escaped from their enslavers by traveling a line of the Underground Railroad operated by Quakers on Hamilton County’s west side. Frederick Douglass, a leader in the abolitionist movement, visited the county in 1843 to speak against slavery.

Several freedmen and freedwomen made their homes in the Carmel area. Some came during the Antebellum Period. Others were part of an exodus from Southern states during Reconstruction.

In the early twentieth century, a Black family group settled in Clay Township. Their members included a veteran of World War I and Carmel High School’s first Black graduate, who was also a track star. In the late 1940s, another Carmel track star became one of the fastest young men in the country.

These stories have been compiled in a book titled The Early Black History of Carmel. You can find it online or at All Things Carmel on West Main Street, or download it for free here.