Marian Spencer

Marian Alexander Spencer (born June 28, 1920) is a former Vice Mayor of the Cincinnati City Council in Cincinnati, Ohio. She is the first African American woman to be elected to the Council.

Personal life

In 1920 Spencer was born in the town of Gallipolis, Ohio. She lived in the home of her grandfather, a freed slave from West Virginia, with her twin sister, Mildred, two brothers, Harry and Vernon, and her parents. The home was built after her grandfather moved to Gallipolis. She became a member of the NAACP at age 13. In 1938 Spencer graduated from Gallia Academy High School. She was co-valedictorian with her sister and a member of the National Honor Society. After graduation, she moved to Cincinnati to attend the University of Cincinnati as a scholarship student with her sister and fellow scholarship student, Mildred Malcolm. While at the University of Cincinnati, Spencer campaigned for the college prom to be open to all students. That was the start of her struggle for equality for all Greater Cincinnatians. Spencer earned a Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Cincinnati in 1942. In 1940, she married Donald Andrew Spencer, Sr., a Cincinnati teacher and real estate broker. They have two sons, Donald Jr. and Edward Alexander. They have two grandsons, Matthew and Oliver, and one granddaughter, Benita.