....Enlisting at 14, Williams
fought for the North in the Civil War. In 1874, he became the first
black to graduate from the Newton Theological Seminary in Cambridge,
Mass. A Baptist minister in Boston and Cincinnati, he later became a
lawyer and was the first African American elected to the Ohio
legislature.
In 1882 Williams published History of the Negro Race in
America, 16191880. "This made him the first major
historian of African-American ancestry." 13
At the end of his administration, President Chester A. Arthur
appointed Williams minister to Haiti. But the new president, Grover
Cleveland cancelled the assignment. Williams attended an antislavery
conference in Brussels in 1885, prompting the Belgian government to
send him to the Congo, where he criticized Belgian atrocities.....
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....Enlisting at 14, Williams
fought for the North in the Civil War. In 1874, he became the first
black to graduate from the Newton Theological Seminary in Cambridge,
Mass. A Baptist minister in Boston and Cincinnati, he later became a
lawyer and was the first African American elected to the Ohio
legislature.
In 1882 Williams published History of the Negro Race in
America, 16191880. According to John Franklin Hope, "this
made him the first major historian of African-American ancestry."
13 At the end of his administration,
President Chester A. Arthur appointed Williams minister to Haiti.
But the new president, Grover Cleveland cancelled the assignment.
Williams attended an antislavery conference in Brussels in 1885,
prompting the Belgian government to send him to the Congo, where he
criticized Belgian atrocities..... |