COLUMBUS – A Toledo civic and business leader who was a longtime rights panel chairman and promoter of downtown is to be inducted posthumously into the Ohio Civil Rights Hall of Fame.
The late Burt Silverman (1919-1978), is one of six inductees announced Wednesday by the Ohio Civil Rights Commission. They will be inducted during the 11th annual Ohio Civil Rights Hall of Fame induction ceremony Oct. 10 in the Ohio Statehouse Atrium, “to acknowledge outstanding Ohioans who are recognized as pioneers in human and civil rights and who have advanced the goals of equality and inclusion.”
“Silverman was regarded as the Toledo community’s ambassador to every ethnic, racial, and religious group,” the rights commission said in a prepared statement.
“He was a mentor to many community members and guided those who sought to learn how they could make a difference. Through his assistance, his mentees gained the most educational and inspiring experiences of their lives, and many later went on to pursue jobs in the government. Silverman dedicated his life to the fight against discrimination in the Toledo area as well as the entire state of Ohio,” the statement said.
Mr. Silverman had brought together African-American and white leaders in the late 1960s and early 1970s to discuss “what could be done to help move black-white relations forward,” it said.
He chaired the Board of Community Relations for about 26 years, including “through the racially divided times of the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s,” induction ceremony organizers noted. He served from 1949 to 1974, when he resigned to devote time to the Ohio Civil Rights Commission, which administers Ohio’s laws against discrimination. He served on the commission from 1972 to 1977.
“As I always like to point out, we don’t wait for a crisis in the community. We want to take preventive action so the crisis doesn’t occur,” he told The Blade when the paper interviewed him in 1974 as BCR chairman.
Mr. Silverman was also well known in business and government circles for his efforts to promote downtown Toledo, having served as Downtown Toledo Associates executive vice president since 1966 and on the board since 1957 until he died. Professionally, he was president of the former Burt Silverman Co., a public relations firm, most recently, from 1965 until his death.
Additionally he was president of the Lucas County Improvement Corp., a nonprofit formed to finance industrial development, and an editor for the Toledo Jewish News early in his career.
The 1937 Scott High School graduate had a 1940 bachelor’s degree in journalism from Ohio State University and was an Army Air Force veteran of World War II.
In 1964, Mr. Silverman was named by then President Lyndon Johnson to the National Citizens Committee for Community Relations.
In 1965, he was honored as Outstanding Citizen for Civil Rights by the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 6909.
Besides Mr. Silverman, the 2019 Ohio Civil Rights Hall of Fame honorees are:
- Thomas Jefferson Ferguson (1830-1887) — leader, author, and education pioneer who created the first institution of higher education created and controlled by African Americans.
- Mary Hackney (1915-2008) — education desegregation advocate and teacher of the Marching Mothers and Children of Hillsboro.
- John “Jack” E. Hansan (1930-) — social worker, civil rights organizer, and policy leader who led the Cincinnati delegation of the March on Washington and advocates for policies and programs to combat racial inequality.
- Geraldine “Jerrie” Mock (1925-2014) — aviation pioneer, record breaker, and the first woman to fly solo around the world.
- Stanley Eugene Tolliver, Sr. (1925-2011) — civil rights lawyer who represented clients in high profile civil rights cases and was part of the push for desegregation in Cleveland.
The induction ceremony event is free and open to public. To register, go to www.2019ocrhof.eventbrite.com.
For more information, including biographies and photos of this year’s inductees, visit the Ohio Civil Rights Hall of Fame page of the Ohio Civil Rights Commission website.
First Published August 14, 2019, 12:00 p.m.
