School Program Award

The Westerville Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration Breakfast gives our community the opportunity to come together and celebrate the ideals of Martin Luther King Jr. with music, personal reflection and fellowship.

We are pleased to announce and present the Second Annual Fouse and Alston Awards. In harmony with our theme of "Stepping Together," the Westerville Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration Committee would like to invite you to nominate and recognize one student for the Fouse Award and one community member for the Alston Award who have put the ideals of Martin Luther King, Jr. into action. Winners will be chosen by committee and will be awarded a beautiful plaque in recognition of their efforts.

Download the Fouse Award criteria and nomination form and the Alston Award criteria and nomination form if you know of a worthy recipient for either award. We are seeking your support in encouraging nominations from your community. The deadline for nominations is December 1, 2009.

Any questions may be directed to Laura Ehninger at (614)797-5982 or via email at Ehningel@westerville.k12.oh.us

The Naming of the Awards

The Fouse Award

Freed at the end of the Civil War, Squire and Sally Fouse valued and fostered education. They worked as slaves for 27 years and upon emancipation migrated to Westerville to start a new life. They were both illiterate but made sure their sons, William and James, were educated in the Westerville schools and at Otterbein College.

William H. Fouse, the son of Squire and Sally Fouse, was born in Westerville in 1868 and in 1884 became the first black graduate of the two-year high school. The influence of his parents encouraged him to work seven more years to earn a degree from Otterbein College. He earned his way by blacking boots, waiting on tables in Columbus and working in the tile works of John Everal. Upon graduation he became an educator, a career that led him to several states and finally to be principal of the Paul Dunbar High School in Lexington, Kentucky. He earned a masters degree at the University of Cincinnati and received an honorary doctorate from Otterbein College. He had a goal of being a “bridge builder for the youth who will have to cross the broad, deep chasm of ignorance.”

The Alston Award

In 1851, Miriam Alston inherited nine slaves according to the provisions of her husband’s will. The remainder of her husband’s 81 slaves were to be divided among his four nephews upon Miriam’s death. Contesting the will, Miriam Alston managed to obtain 21 more of her husband’s slaves. She died in September, 1855, leaving the slaves in trust to her executor Jesse Marley, stipulating that they were never to be used as slaves again and were to be taken to a free state as soon as possible.

Marley honored Miriam’s trust. In May 1859, he received permission from the courts to take the slaves north. This group of 28 men, women and children traveled more than 300 miles in two weeks, arriving in Ohio on May 15, 1859. Following the routes of the Underground Railroad, they traveled to the Westerville/Africa area where they were emancipated six days later. Newly freed from their former status as Alston slaves, they quickly became part of their new communities. They attended church, sent their children to school and, before the end of the Civil War, became property owners. Among these original Alstons and their descendants are educators, lawyers, musicians and veterans of almost every war. The legacy left by Miriam Alston, Jesse Marley and the Ohio Alstons has touched the lives of countless generations.