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biography
| name: |
Langston, John Mercer
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| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1829–97)
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| biography:
| Educator and public official, born in Louisa Co, Virginia, USA. The son of a plantation owner and his emancipated slave, he was educated at Oberlin College (1849 BA), where he read theology and law, passing the Ohio bar exams in 1854. Elected as township clerk (1855), he became the first African-American elected to public office. During the Civil War, he worked to recruit black troops and after the war he was inspector-general of the Freedmen's Bureau (1868). He then moved to the newly founded Howard University, where he served as dean and vice-president, and was one of the founders of the law school (1869–77). He served in the US diplomatic service (1887–5), before successfully standing in the House of Representatives from Virginia (Republican, 1889–91). He had to resort to the courts to have his election upheld, and his bid for re-election was unsuccessful. In 1894 he published his autobiography, From the Virginia Plantation to the National Capital. |
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