Martin Delany

Martin Delany, born on May sixth, eighteen twelve, in Charles Town, Virginia, emerged as a pivotal figure in American history. As a free person of color, he was raised in Chambersburg and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he trained as a physician's assistant. Delany's commitment to his community was evident during the cholera epidemics of eighteen thirty-three and eighteen fifty-four, when he bravely treated patients while many fled the city in fear.

In eighteen thirty-nine, Delany embarked on a journey through the South to witness the harsh realities of slavery. His experiences led him to collaborate with the renowned Frederick Douglass in eighteen forty-seven, as they worked together to publish the North Star in Rochester, New York. Delany's ambition took him to Harvard Medical School in eighteen fifty, where he became one of the first three black men admitted, though he faced dismissal shortly thereafter due to protests from white students.

Convinced that African Americans had no future in the United States, Delany explored the idea of resettling Black Americans in Africa. He visited Liberia and spent time in Canada before returning to the U.S. at the onset of the Civil War. In eighteen sixty-three, he played a crucial role in recruiting for the United States Colored Troops and was commissioned as a major in February eighteen sixty-five, making history as the first African American field grade officer in the U.S. Army.

After the Civil War, Delany settled in South Carolina, where he became actively involved with the Freedmen's Bureau and the Colored Conventions Movement. His political aspirations included an unsuccessful run for Lieutenant Governor as an Independent Republican. Despite being appointed as a trial judge, he faced removal due to a scandal. Later, he shifted his political allegiance and supported Democrat Wade Hampton III during the tumultuous election of eighteen seventy-six, a time marked by violence against black Republican voters.