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Image courtesy of Library of Congress |
LANGSTON, John Mercer, a Representative from Virginia; born in Louisa, Louisa County, Va.,
December 14, 1829; attended the common schools in Ohio; was graduated from the
literary department of Oberlin College in 1849 and from the theological
department in 1852; studied law in Elyria, Ohio; was admitted to the bar in
1854 and commenced practice in Oberlin, Ohio; took an active part in recruiting
black troops during the Civil War, especially for the Fifty-fourth and
Fifty-fifth Massachusetts and Fifth Ohio Regiments; member of the council of
Oberlin 1865-1867; member of the city board of education in 1867 and 1868;
appointed inspector general of the Bureau of Freedmen, Refugees, and Abandoned
Lands in 1868; moved to Washington, D.C., and practiced law; dean of the law
department of Howard University 1869-1876; appointed and commissioned by
President Grant a member of the Board of Health of the District of Columbia in
1871; appointed by President Hayes Minister Resident and consul general to
Haiti and Chargé dAffaires to Santo Domingo; elected vice president and acting
president of Howard University in 1872; delegate to the Republican National
Convention in 1876; returned to Virginia, having been elected president of the
Virginia Normal and Collegiate Institute, Petersburg, Va., in 1885; delegate to
the Republican State convention in 1890; successfully contested as a Republican
the election of Edward C. Venable to the Fifty-first Congress and served from
September 23, 1890, to March 3, 1891; unsuccessful candidate for reelection in
1890 to the Fifty-second Congress; died in Washington, D.C., on November 15,
1897; interment in Woodlawn Cemetery.
BibliographyJohn Mercer Langston in
Black Americans in Congress, 1870-2007. Prepared under the
direction of the Committee on House Adminstration by the Office of History
& Preservation, U. S. House of Representatives. Washington: Government
Printing Office, 2008; Langston, John Mercer.
From Virginia Plantation to National Capitol. 1894. Reprint,
New York: Arno Press, 1969.
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