Cincinnati’s First African American Police Officer and Firefighter
Identifying Cincinnati’s first African American police officer was more like investigating than researching. In a Fox 19 interview in February 2020, Stephen Headley, reference librarian at the Cincinnati Public Library, points to a July 1884 Commercial Gazette publication, “One colored gentleman, Mr. Hiram Carroll, has been appointed on the police force. This is the first appointment of a colored man ever made on the regular force of this city.”
If he ever actually served as a police officer, the time was brief because, according to press clippings, he was fired in August for being three-quarters of an inch too short.
In another interview for the Fox 19 story, retired Police Lieutenant Stephen Kramer, who worked at the Greater Cincinnati Police Museum, said, “Henry Hagerman was believed to be the first Black Cincinnati police officer.”
Because the state shut down the entire Cincinnati Police Department due to corruption scandals, most of what is known about the department’s African American history before 1886 comes from Wendell Dabney‘s book, “Cincinnati’s Colored Citizens,” published 40 years later.
Dabney’s research says Hagerman was an officer in 1884. But in photos, he is wearing a badge that predates any existing badge going back to 1886. To confuse the matter more, the Commercial Gazette newspaper wrote, “Henry Hagerman was sworn in yesterday as a special policeman,” not in 1884, but in 1885.
Related Article: The History of African Americans in Cincinnati
Identifying Cincinnati’s first African American firefighter was more straightforward but still confusing. According to the Cincinnati Fire Museum, Herbert Banes served the Fire Department for ten years beginning in 1955.
He then worked as a fire captain at the Pacific Missile Range. After that, as a fire chief in the Republic of Vietnam.
According to most local media, Bane (no “s“) died in July 2019, and a procession of Cincinnati Firefighters marched from Bond Hill Academy to the Church of the Resurrection on California Avenue in his honor.
Nonetheless, thanks to all three gentlemen for paving the way for Cincinnati’s first police and fire!
Sources
Firefighting History – Cincinnati Fire Museum (cincyfiremuseum.com)
Cincinnati’s first African American police officer may not have been (fox19.com)
First Cincinnati African American firefighter laid to rest (fox19.com)
About The First 28
The First 28, graciously sponsored by the Greater Cincinnati Foundation, celebrates Black Cincinnatians who were the first in their fields. Each day during Black History Month, we will celebrate athletes, artists, business leaders, civil rights activists, educators, physicians, and politicians.
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Images provided by WCPO, Fox 19
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