HAMILTON, Ohio — Black pioneers for freedom and equality like Sojourner Truth, Frederick Douglass, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and the Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth might come to mind when speaking of black history. But for some local black residents it's the stories their parents shared that really hit home.

"I think it was more of the sign of the times to where we (blacks) were not accepted as first-class citizens," Donald Gillespie of Forest Park remembered about Hamilton. "You work hard to get the opportunities in life to buy a house and go where you want."

Gillespie and his wife, Marcia (pronounced mar-SEE-ah), and the Green family of Hamilton share experiences of discrimination and racism during the 1970s. Despite the intolerance, both families say their encounters inspired their children and grandchildren to become the best people they could.

"I was raised in a home where parents were the driving force," said Ronald Green, who is the Gillespie's brother-in-law. "I try to look at it from a positive point of view. All people have good and evil."

The Gillespies and Green and his wife, Joyce — who is Marcia's sister — are all from Hamilton originally. Both families recall racism as subtle growing up and during their adulthood in Hamilton.

Gillespie became the first black head boys basketball coach in the Hamilton City School District at Garfield High School in the 1970s. As a teacher, he taught vocational education at the high school.

In 1972, the couple had begun looking for a house in Hamilton. The Gillespies were part a trial through Housing Opportunity Made Equal, a program that promotes fair housing. When they found a home they liked on Hamilton Avenue, the couple was greeted with racial slurs and shouts of "why don't you stay in your own neighborhood?" they said.

The Gillespies took their search to Fairfield, where it was more of the same.

Donald Gillespie remembers one of his brothers, who was a captain in the military during the Vietnam War, had been denied an apartment for his wife and baby. The white apartment owners insisted that two white businessmen, who knew Gillespie's brother, co-sign for the apartment because "it wasn't ready to rent to blacks," Gillespie said.

"At that time we didn't feel like we could raise children in that environment," Gillespie said.

The Gillespies eventually bought a house in Forest Park.

"It was hard trying to find a home even in this community but we were determined to stay because the education (in Forest Park) was acceptable," Marcia Gillespie said.

Having to find a house outside their hometown had been a disappointment, they said. However, they're active within the community and attend Pilgrim Baptist Church in Hamilton.

The Gillespies have been married for 41 years. They have three children and three grandchildren.

As for Green, who stands 6 feet, 5 inches tall and weighs 300 pounds, he says his stature shielded him from being treated unfair overtly.

With a wife and children to support at age 25, Green worked as an apprentice to become an electrician in 1972. He says he was the first black to enter the apprenticeship through Hamilton's local union. He attributes affirmative action for giving him a chance to become an apprentice.

Even though he got his foot in the door, his white co-workers wouldn't make it easy.

"I had made a conscious decision to finish the apprenticeship," Green said. "The way I looked at it was if you had a problem with me, you had a problem with someone else too."

He's remained an electrician for the past 37 years.

The Greens, married for 32 years, have seven children and 14 grandchildren. They remember the adversity some of their children experienced in the Hamilton school district.

Stories of how their youngest daughter, Robyn, now 26, received low grades on projects and English essays based on her teacher's prejudice, Joyce Green said.

Despite the unfair treatment, both the Greens and the Gillespies chalk it up as an experience in which their children and grandchildren can learn.

Robyn Green, who is the mother of 5-year-old Symone, said she wants to expose her daughter to all that life has to offer. The same as her parents did.

"I think I will expose her to everything so she can make her own decisions," Robyn Green said.

Carmen M. Henderson writes for the JournalNews (Hamilton, Ohio). E-mail: chenderson@coxohio.com