Barnett Ridge is located in Barlow Township, Washington County, Ohio. Members of the Barnett Family may have been through this area of Ohio much earlier than 1845. However, the settlement of the family in this area started on October 27, 1845, when nine members of the Barnett Family had their wagons searched for the last time and cross the Ohio River out of the Common Wealth of Virgina into the State of Ohio. They were down to their last 75 cents. Even with the State of Ohio demanding a bond to permit this "coloured" family to remain in Ohio, there they stopped and put down new roots.
It is not "race," but a practice of racial classification that bedevils the society in which we live. Race is a riddle only as the result of a choice not to specify precisely what the term means.
Our history clearly shows us that if we permit others to define us we shall always be categorized as being less than those doing the naming and will become willing to perform at that diminished station in life.
