Eight years after the Brooklyn Dodgers had hired Jackie Robinson, the first African American to play on a team in the Major Baseball League, Louis “Lou” Dale Sharp became the first African American state trooper. He graduated from Ohio’s 44th Academy class in 1955 and joined the team of Ohio State Highway troopers.
That team of troopers, the Ohio State Highway Police (OSHP) included 700 faces. Only one of those had dark skin. That one man of color worked with the other members of the OSHP for 9 months, before resigning, in order to become a member of the general public and, one that gave back to the community.
Louis Dale Sharp became an educator and a principal at several Catholic educational institutions within Ohio. His fellow citizens noted the effort that he put into tackling the challenge of directing teachers and teaching students. At one point, Sharp ran for and won a public office. He became Mayor of Urbancrest, OH.
After receiving his commission in 1955, Patrolman Sharp was escorted to the Statehouse, where he met with then Governor Frank Lausche and was praised for his perseverance.
src: facebook.com/OhioStateHighwayPatrol/photos/pcb.1391754744251623/1391753037585127/
Historians have not offered any details, regarding the race of each person that served under the direction Sharp, when he was Mayor of Urbancrest. Still, one event offers a strong indication of the extent to which Sharp managed to invite into Urbancrest’s City Hall a noteworthy number of other African Americans.
That one event took place after the former Mayor had witnessed all the changes that took place between 1955 and the final years of the second decade in the 21st Century. He had helped to pave the way for some of those changes. For that reason, Louis Dale Sharp was inducted into the Ohio Civil Rights Hall of Fame.
One change had been the introduction of Black History Month. During that Month, while schoolchildren were learning about famous men and women of color, one more name joined the list of those that had passed. That name was Louis Dale Sharp.
Louis “Lou” Dale Sharp, 85, was born in Columbus, Ohio on April 4, 1932, and passed away on May 7, 2017.
His obituary can be found here.