Editing Lincoln Heights, Ohio (section)

==History==
Lincoln Heights was founded in the 1920s by property developers as a suburban enclave for black homeowners working in nearby industries.<ref>Smith, Carolyn F., p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=jWfF-vpscX4C&pg=PA8 8].</ref> It was originally an [[unincorporated area]] which had no fire, police, streetlights, or paved roads. At the time, only some houses had electricity. Many black families bought houses in the community because zoning laws and [[redlining]] prevented them from purchasing property in other communities.<ref name=Semuels>{{cite web|first1=Alana|last1=Semuels|access-date=2015-07-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150714172233/http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/07/lincoln-heights-black-suburb/398303/|archive-date=2015-07-14|title=The Destruction of a Black Suburb|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/07/lincoln-heights-black-suburb/398303/|date=13 July 2015}}</ref>

===Incorporation attempts===
The first attempt at incorporation came in 1939; the motive was so residents could establish their own municipal services. [[Lockland, Ohio|Lockland]] residents objected to the Lincoln Heights incorporation proposal because they feared Lincoln Heights' business district may compete with its own, so they filed an objection several minutes before the filing deadline occurred. This was the start of a series of delays.<ref name=Semuels/>

Kitty Morgan of ''[[Cincinnati Magazine]]'' wrote that the Hamilton County and state governments were "unsympathetic" to the attempted incorporation.<ref name=Morganp11>{{cite journal|author=Morgan, Kitty|title=A Best Place to Live|journal=[[Cincinnati Magazine]]|date=July 2002|publisher=[[Emmis Communications]]|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=TesCAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA8 8]-[https://books.google.com/books?id=TesCAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA11 11]|issn=0746-8210}} - CITED: [https://books.google.com/books?id=TesCAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA11 11]</ref> The manager of the Wright Aeronautical Plant, located on land that Lincoln Heights residents wished to incorporate, also filed an objection because he did not want the factory to be in a majority black municipality. The communities of [[Woodlawn, Ohio|Woodlawn]], and then [[Evendale, Ohio|Evendale]] incorporated even though Lincoln Heights' application kept being delayed. They respectively took the western and eastern portions of territory that was supposed to be in Lincoln Heights, the latter of which contained the aeronautical plant (now the [[GE Aviation]] Evendale plant). The persons trying to establish Lincoln Heights failed to successfully challenge the Evendale incorporation in court.<ref name=Semuels/>

Voters narrowly approved the incorporation of Lincoln Heights in a special election on June 18, 1941. At the time, African Americans made up 98% of the community's residents.<ref>{{cite news|title=OK Incorporation In Lincoln Heights|work=[[The Cincinnati Post]]|publisher=Scripps-Howard Newspapers|date=June 19, 1941|page=15|via=NewsBank}}</ref> In 1946, Hamilton County allowed Lincoln Heights to incorporate with 10% of the original proposal's area. It had no industrial tax base since there were no major factories or plants within the city limits. A [[University of Buffalo]] professor of urban and regional planning who wrote a [[dissertation]] on Lincoln Heights, Henry Louis Taylor, stated that this made Lincoln Heights vulnerable to future economic problems.<ref name=Morganp11/>

===Subsequent history===
Morgan wrote that the "[[:wikt:halcyon days|halcyon days]]" of Lincoln Heights were the post-[[World War II]] period through the 1960s.<ref name=Morganp8>{{cite journal|author=Morgan, Kitty|title=A Best Place to Live|journal=[[Cincinnati Magazine]]|date=July 2002|publisher=[[Emmis Communications]]|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=TesCAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA8 8]-[https://books.google.com/books?id=TesCAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA11 11]|issn=0746-8210}} - CITED: [https://books.google.com/books?id=TesCAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA8 8]</ref> At that time of incorporation it was the only black municipality north of the [[Mason-Dixon]] line, prompting [[Governor of New York]] [[Thomas E. Dewey]] to establish a tour of Lincoln Heights, inviting New York City residents to participate. In the mid-20th century many Lincoln Heights residents worked at the Wright Aeronautical Plant and a nearby chemical plant.<ref name=Semuels/>

In the 1970s Lincoln Heights had 6,099 residents. In the 1970s and 1980s many factories began to close, and the tax base of the city decreased, making it difficult to establish community programs. It became difficult for residents find employment, and many residents who attended universities [[brain drain|never returned to the city]]. By 1990 the number of residents in Lincoln Heights had decreased to 4,805.<ref name=Semuels/> This further declined to 4,113 persons in 2000.<ref name=Morganp8/> In 2000 ''[[Cincinnati Magazine]]'' ranked Lincoln Heights in last place, #84, in its "The Best Places to Live," a ranking of communities in the Cincinnati area.<ref name=Morganp8to10>{{cite journal|author=Morgan, Kitty|title=A Best Place to Live|journal=[[Cincinnati Magazine]]|date=July 2002|publisher=[[Emmis Communications]]|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=TesCAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA8 8]-[https://books.google.com/books?id=TesCAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA11 11]|issn=0746-8210}} - CITED: [https://books.google.com/books?id=TesCAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA8 8], [https://books.google.com/books?id=TesCAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA10 10].</ref>

As of 2001 the community still included many longtime residents;<ref name=VelaSavor>Vela, Susan. "[http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2001/06/30/loc_lincoln_heights.html Lincoln Heights residents savor sense of home, pride]" ([https://archive.today/20240527103558/https://www.webcitation.org/6a1WrALfp?url=http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2001/06/30/loc_lincoln_heights.html Archive]). ''[[Cincinnati Enquirer]]''. June 30, 2001. Retrieved on July 15, 2015.</ref> many persons who stayed in the city had been unable to leave Lincoln Heights.<ref name=Semuels/> That year the Lincoln Heights economic development director, Claude Audley, stated that he received telephone calls from people expressing a wish to move back to Lincoln Heights.<ref name=VelaSavor/>

From 2007 to 2013 the values of houses in Lincoln Heights declined by 76.4%. During the same period the housing values in nearby [[Indian Hill, Ohio|Indian Hill]] increased by 27.7%.<ref name=Semuels/>

In 2013 the population was down to 3,367. From 1970 to 2013, therefore, the population had declined by 45%. The population in nearby [[Blue Ash, Ohio|Blue Ash]] had increased by 46% during that time frame.<ref name=Semuels/>

===2025 neo-Nazi demonstrations===
In February 2025, about a dozen [[neo-Nazism|neo-Nazis]] waving flags with [[swastika]]s, some also armed, gathered at a highway overpass on the border between Lincoln Heights and [[Evendale, Ohio]]. The group pinned swastika banners and a sign that read "America is for the White Man" on the overpass, and at one point yelled out the n-word towards a passing white driver who filmed them. Local residents of the mostly-black Lincoln Heights confronted the neo-Nazi group and within minutes the latter fled in a [[U-Haul]] truck while local police stood between them and members of the community. Residents reported that the neo-Nazis used anti-black racial slurs and criticized police for not preventing the incident and not tracking or detaining the instigators, perceiving bias in police treatment and protection of the neo-Nazis.<ref>{{cite news |first=Paige|last=Barnes |access-date=2025-02-15|title=Local residents demand answers, better response from police after neo-Nazi rally|url=https://local12.com/news/local/residents-demand-answers-better-response-police-neo-nazi-rally-lincoln-heights-unauthorized-demonstration-town-hall-meeting-nazism-hate-protest-hamilton-county-sheriff-department-evendale-lockland-swastika-flag-transparency-cincinnati-ohio|date=10 February 2025|work=WKRC}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|access-date=2025-02-15|title=After armed neo-Nazis get police protection, some Black residents in Ohio express disbelief|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/armed-neo-nazis-get-police-protection-black-residents-ohio-express-dis-rcna191794|date=12 February 2025|website=NBC News}}</ref> Cincinnati Mayor [[Aftab Pureval]] released a statement condemning the incident and said it was "shocking and disgusting to see swastikas displayed in Evendale today."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/08/us/cincinnati-ohio-nazi-flags/index.html|title=Residents of historic Black community near Cincinnati confront White supremacist demonstrators, months after neo-Nazi march|last=Elassar|first=Alaa|publisher=[[CNN]]|date=February 9, 2025|access-date=February 10, 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|access-date=2025-02-15|title=What happened during the neo-Nazi demonstration near Lincoln Heights? Here's what police say, body cam shows|url=https://www.wcpo.com/news/local-news/hamilton-county/lincoln-heights/what-happened-during-the-neo-nazi-demonstration-near-lincoln-heights-heres-what-police-say-body-cam-shows|date=12 February 2025|website=WCPO 9 Cincinnati}}</ref> In the following days, counterdemonstrations and vigils were held, with hundreds of locals participating.<ref>{{cite web|first1=David|last1=Ferrara|access-date=2025-02-15|title=Lincoln Heights residents hold vigil, seek answers after white supremacist demonstration|url=https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2025/02/10/lincoln-heights-vigil-questions-after-white-supremacist-demonstration/78373666007/|website=The Enquirer}}</ref> Some residents also formed armed patrols of the neighborhood.<ref>{{cite web|access-date=2025-02-15|title=Lincoln Heights residents stand guard amid 'deterioration' in relationship with officials after neo-Nazi rally|url=https://www.wcpo.com/news/local-news/hamilton-county/lincoln-heights/lincoln-heights-residents-stand-guard-amid-deterioration-in-relationship-with-officials-after-neo-nazi-rally|date=12 February 2025|website=WCPO 9 Cincinnati}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|first1=Marella Porter|last1=WKRC|access-date=2025-02-15|title='Lincoln Heights Protectors': Armed men guarding village following neo-Nazi rally|url=https://local12.com/news/local/lincoln-heights-protectors-armed-men-guarding-village-neo-nazi-rally-hate-group-evendale-community-defense-defenders-weapons-shotguns-guns-guard-counterprotest-protest-cincinnati-ohio|date=12 February 2025|website=WKRC}}</ref>