Three People Who Changed America. Most Have Never Heard Their Names.
America turns 250 this year. Most people know the big names. Washington. Lincoln. Tubman. But the unsung heroes from Ohio rarely make it into the textbooks. Ohio gave America three of them. A poet who sold his first book from an elevator because no office in Dayton would hire a Black man. An inventor who beat Thomas Edison in patent court — twice — then turned down Edison’s job offer. And a girl from a log cabin who trained 15,000 women to shoot and tried to raise an army for her country. This is their story.
Paul Laurence Dunbar — An Unsung Hero From Ohio Who Rewrote American Literature
A Brilliant Mind With Nowhere to Go
He sold his first book of poems to passengers on an elevator. He had no other way to pay the printing bill.
Paul Laurence Dunbar was born in Dayton in 1872 to parents who had both been enslaved in Kentucky. He was the only Black student at Dayton Central High School. He ran the school newspaper, led the debate team, and was voted class poet. When he graduated, he could not find a single office that would hire him.
So he ran an elevator. Four dollars a week. While the doors opened and closed, he wrote. His first published poetry collection, Oak and Ivy, was in 1893 — at his own expense — and sold copies to his passengers to pay the printing bill. He knew people would question whether his talent was real or whether the attention was simply curiosity about a Black man who could write. He said it himself:
“I hope there is something worthy in my writings and not merely the novelty of a black face associated with the power to rhyme that has attracted attention.” — Paul Laurence Dunbar.
From an Elevator in Dayton to the Library of Congress
There was. According to the Poetry Foundation, he became one of the first influential Black poets in American literature. He read his poems in England and was invited to the Library of Congress. Dubar also wrote novels, short stories, and plays — including the first full-length musical written, produced, and performed by African Americans on Broadway in 1903. He influenced the entire Harlem Renaissance.
One small detail most people miss: his high school newspaper was printed by his classmate Orville Wright. Two of the most important unsung heroes from Ohio — one who changed the sky, one who changed American letters — went to school together in Dayton.
Dunbar died of tuberculosis at 33. He never left Dayton. You can visit the Paul Laurence Dunbar House in Dayton.
Granville T. Woods — An Unsung Hero From Ohio Who Out-Invented Thomas Edison
Self-Taught, Shut Out, and Still Building
Dunbar used words to push past what Ohio’s doors would allow him. Granville Woods used wires. Same state, same era, and same story of a man who had to build his way around every wall put in front of him.
Granville T. Woods was born in 1856 in Columbus, Ohio, to free African American parents. He left school at age ten to work. Then he went on to teach himself electrical engineering by reading every book he could find, and paying other workers to explain concepts to him, because Black people were barred from many public libraries at the time.
He went on to earn nearly 60 patents. His biggest invention — the Synchronous Multiplex Railway Telegraph — allowed moving trains to communicate with stations in real time. Before Woods, engineers had no way to know if another train was on the same track ahead of them. His invention prevented countless collisions and saved lives across the country.
The Patent Battle That History Forgot
Then Thomas Edison filed a patent claim. According to U.S. Patent Office records and historical accounts, Edison argued that he had first invented a similar telegraph and was entitled to Woods’ patent. Woods won that challenge. Edison came back a second time. Woods won again. Defeated in court twice, Edison offered Woods a top engineering job at Edison Electric.
Woods said no. He preferred to stay independent.
He also invented an early version of the third rail — the power system still used today by electric subway systems around the world. Although he invented improvements to the air brake and invented the electric trolley system, most of it does not carry his name.
He died in 1910 with almost nothing. His patents had made other people rich. But every time a subway train stops safely, or a commuter train signals its position, that is Granville Woods.
Annie Oakley — An Unsung Hero From Ohio Who Changed What Women Could Do
The Girl the Wolves Couldn’t Stop
Dunbar fought with words. Woods fought with patents. The third unsung hero from Ohio fought with a rifle — and with something harder to defeat than either of those: a country that did not think women belonged in the fight at all.
She was five feet tall and weighed about 100 pounds. And she could shoot a playing card in half at 90 feet.
In Darke County, Ohio, Annie Oakley was born in 1860 as Phoebe Ann Moses in a log cabin. Her father died when she was six. She was sent to live with a family she later called ‘the wolves.’ She ran away. She picked up her father’s rifle and started hunting to feed her family.
At 15, she entered a shooting contest against a trained professional. She beat him. Then she married him and went on to become the world’s most famous sharpshooter.
More Than a Sharpshooter — A Fighter for Women’s Rights
But the part people often skip is what I believe makes her so compelling. Annie Oakley trained an estimated 15,000 women to shoot. She believed a gun gave a woman confidence and the ability to protect herself. She also campaigned for equal pay for equal work. When the Spanish-American War began, she wrote to President McKinley and offered to send 50 female sharpshooters to serve, all armed at their own expense.
“When I began shooting in public, it was considered almost shameful for a woman to shoot. That was a man’s business, you see.” — Annie Oakley.
McKinley said no. She wrote to the War Department again during World War I. That offer was declined, too. So she traveled to army bases on her own and gave shooting exhibitions for the troops.
Most people think of Annie Oakley as a showgirl of the Old West. She never traveled west of Cincinnati until her career began. She was a fighter for women’s rights and military service — decades before either was taken seriously.
Near the end of her life, she told a reporter she had one wish: to be buried back on the quiet farmland where she was born. She is. You can visit her grave in Darke County today.
Visit the National Annie Oakley Center in Greenville, Ohio
Why These Heroes From Ohio Still Matter in 2026
America 250 is a moment to look at the whole picture. Not just the generals and presidents. The poet who ran an elevator because no one would give him an office job. The inventor who beat the most famous inventor in America — in court, twice — and still died broke. The sharpshooter who told the President she had 50 soldiers ready to serve never heard back.
All three were unsung heroes from Ohio. All three changed America. And most people have never heard their names.
History is not just something that happened. It is something you can still visit — if you know where to look. Learn more about America’s 250th celebration at america250.org. And for further reading about Ohio’s Annie Oakley, check out The Annie Oakley Trail in Darke County.
