Woodson started and helped to build other institutions within the free African-American communities in Ohio and western Pennsylvania prior to the American Civil War.

Woodson was among the original 24 trustees to found Wilberforce University in Ohio in 1856, in a collaboration between the AME and the Cincinnati Methodist Council.

[7] The study's major findings were that the Y chromosome of the Jefferson male line matched that of Sally Hemings' son Eston's descendant.

Soon the Woodsons helped establish an African Methodist Episcopal congregation there, the first west of the Allegheny Mountains.

In 1829 Thomas Woodson acquired a 50-acre farm in Jackson County, Ohio, which he grew over time to 382 acres.

The best speculation is that the Hemings family 'misappropriated' cattle and horses from Jefferson's Bedford plantation (near Lynchburg), taking them to Greenbrier County and Thomas skillfully grew a herd from there.

Lewis and two brothers, Thomas and John, became ministers in the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME),[8] a new, independent, African-American denomination started in Philadelphia in 1816.

Greenwood-Praeger published a highly acclaimed non-fiction best seller in 2001, written by a great-great grandson of Lewis and Carline Woodson.

The newspaper printed one letter each from Richard Allen, founder of the African Methodist Episcopal church, and Rev.

[12] Reverend Lewis Woodson served as secretary for an AME Conference in Hillsborough, Ohio (near Cincinnati) while Bishop Morris Brown presided.

[14] Oberlin graduated 23 blacks before the Civil War, making a significant contribution to the uplift of the Antebellum African American community.

Lewis Woodson filled a key role in the establishment of the Third, or Ohio District, of the AME denomination.

Vashon and Woodson befriended the young Martin Delany, and acted as his teachers and mentors.

Delany became a spokesman for blacks during the Civil War and helped them to be accepted as soldiers on the Union side.

In 1837 Lewis Woodson served as secretary for a group of African Americans who created the "Pittsburgh Memorial", a document asserting that free blacks should retain the voting right in Pennsylvania.

[16] From 1837 to 1841, Woodson published numerous letters as "Augustine" in The Colored American (New York City) newspaper.

He advocated black initiatives to create institutions independent of whites, including churches, newspapers, and schools.

Woodson advocated preparation for the time when the multitudes of American slaves would gain freedom, and require social, organizational, and other assistance.

AMRS leader William Whipper vehemently opposed the naming of and constitution of organizations and churches on the basis of color and race.

The letters Woodson wrote to the Colored American newspaper were, in part, meant to oppose Whipper's views.

Part of Woodson's mark is that he was unwavering; the ideological stances he adopted over 40 years of activism did not change.

In the summer of 1851, the leaders of the black community of Pittsburgh organized a celebration of the "Emancipation of 800,000 slaves in the West Indies."

"[20] In stunning fashion, the black community of Pittsburgh was putting its pride, resilience, and anti-slavery stance on full public display.

The leadership of Woodson, Vashon, Peck, and Delany set a template that was replicated for decades in Pittsburgh.

[21] Along with Bishop Daniel Payne, Woodson was among the four black Americans representing the AME Church; when the 24-member founding Board of Trustees of Wilberforce College first convened in Ohio.

They created a collaborative venture with white representatives of the Cincinnati Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, which provided the first major funding.

(The first college for black students, now Lincoln University, was established by Presbyterians, who were aligned with the goals of the American Colonization Society, in Pennsylvania in 1854.

To help raise money for the purchase, the AME Church sold the property used by Union Seminary to put its resources into Wilberforce University.

Wilberforce University has a strong tradition of teaching the history of its establishment, including the contributions of Lewis Woodson and Daniel A. Payne.

Unlike Richard Allen, Frederick Douglass, John Mercer Langston, and Benjamin Tucker Tanner, Woodson did not write an autobiography, consequently no historian has written Woodson's biography (2024), as historians have in the cases of the four men mentioned.