This is a work of fiction. Tawawa Resort did exist, however. Located near Xenia, Ohio, it opened in 1852 and closed in 1855. It is documented by historians that Southern slaveholders frequented the resort with slave entourages, and that these visits were a reason for the decline of the resort’s popularity. The presence of slave concubines is part of local oral history.
The land and surrounding area were sold to the cincinnati conference of the Methodist Episcopal church, and it established the Ohio African University in 1856. With the onset of the civil War, enrollments declined and the original campus was closed. In 1863, the property was purchased by the African Methodist Episcopal Chuch and was renamed Wilberforce University; it continues to be the nation’s oldest, private, predominantly African American university. It is believed that the children of the unions between the slave women and the slaveholders were among the early students at the university.