Jenco Foundation Award

Teacher, lecturer, historian, and "Buckeye" are some of the terms which best describe and represent Henry Robert Burke. He was born in Columbus, Ohio but has spent the majority of his life in Southeast Ohio, along the banks of the "ole" Muskingum and Ohio Rivers. His family came to Ohio before the Civil War and he takes great pride in the "Buckeye State." Through his ability as a writer, storyteller and acknowledged "folk character," Mr. Burke has brought alive the toil, tribulation and hardship of African Americans who, as slaves, passengers on the underground railroad, and fugitives evaded slave owners and bounty hunters in their determination to be free and productive citizens. He is an expert on African American History, Slave Owning Plantations, Underground Railroad Sites, the Underground Railroad and Abolitionist Activities. His nominators have described him as, "The only person who publicly talked about the multi-cultural diversity and African American history in Appalachian Ohio and the Ohio River Valley. A topic typically hushed up or considered taboo." He is described as, "indefatigable, generous, thoughtful, and passionate."