John Mercer Langston And The Fight For Black Freedom, 1829-65
About the Book
Privileged beyond other members of his race, yet sharing their disadvantages, the young John Mercer Langston stood in an uncertain position in the years before the Civil War. His confrontation with a critical personal question was tempered by a crucial national reality: from what sources could he derive his model of manhood and human dignity? This book explores John Mercer Langston's decisions to work out his destiny through the resources and fortunes of the northern black community.Although Langston, who died in 1897, was a black Politician, orator, lawyer, intellectual, diplomat, and congressman, he has never before been accorded fullscale biographical treatment. Born free on a Virginia plantation, Langston graduated from Oberlin College in 1849, gained admission to the Ohio bar, and by the age of twenty-five, became the first black American to hold elective office. Still in the years of his political apprenticeship, he promoted black civil rights, helped shape the nascent Republican party, aided in the Oberlin-Wellington Rescue and John Brown's raid, and recruited black soldier for the Union cause. In 1864 he became the first president of the National Equal Rights League.
From an extensive search of primary sources, the authors construct a richly textured picture of the beginnings of Langston's career as a national black leader. More than a biography, the work also incorporates social and political history. Embedded firmly in a study of northern black community life and activism, it reveals the degree to which Langston and his cohorts set the terms of the fight for freedom and citizenship.
About the Author
William Cheek is a professor emeritus of history at San Diego State University and author of Black Resistance before the Civil War. Aimee Lee Cheek is an independent historian, writer, and consultant in San Diego.Reviews
"Provides the mirror in which to reflect Langston's brilliant, turbulent career, as well as the nation's ongoing struggle against racism. Life-and-times biography could be put to no better use."--David W. Blight, Journal of American History"One of the most thorough studies ever done of a nineteenth-century Black American. [It] will be the standard."--J. M. Matthews, Choice
"Breaks new and important ground in the field of African American history. . . . [It] is both a social history of the period and the remarkable story of Langston's formative life and career as a free Black Ohioan in pre-Civil War America."--David C. Dennard, Journal of Southern History
"A sensitive biography of a Black leader and a full-scale history of the society in which he matured and began his career."--John B. Boles, American Historical Review
"The Cheeks have masterfully performed their chief task--the transformation of autobiography into social history."--Wilson J. Moses, Reviews in American History
Blurbs
“A marvel of scholarship and artistry. The general reader will be fascinated to discover the vitality of the free Black community that Langston moved and moved in.”--Joyce Appleby, author of Shores of Knowledge: New World Discoveries and the Scientific Imagination
Awards
• Winner, Gustavus Myers Award, 1996Related Titles
