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Charles Henry Langston
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Charles Henry Langston
Charles Henry Langston (1817–1892) was an American abolitionist and political activist who was active in Ohio and later in Kansas, during and after the American Civil War, where he worked for black suffrage and other civil rights. He was a spokesman for blacks of Kansas and "the West".
Born free in Louisa County, Virginia, he was the son of a wealthy white planter and his common-law wife of African American-Pamunkey ancestry, whom his father freed. His father provided for his sons' education and ensured Langston and his brothers inherited his estate. In 1835 Langston and his older brother Gideon were the first African Americans to attend Oberlin College in Ohio.
Langston worked for 30 years for equal rights, suffrage and education in Ohio and Kansas. In 1858, Langston was tried with a white colleague for the Oberlin-Wellington Rescue, a cause célèbre that was a catalyst for increasing support for abolition. That year Langston helped found the Ohio Anti-Slavery Society and, with his younger brother John as president, led it as executive secretary. After the American Civil War, he was appointed as general superintendent of refugees and freedmen for the Freedmen's Bureau in Kansas. In 1872 he was appointed as principal of the Quindaro Freedman's School (later Western University), the first black college west of the Mississippi River.
He was an older brother of John Mercer Langston, an accomplished attorney and activist, who had numerous appointed posts, and in 1888 was the first black person elected to the United States Congress from Virginia (and the last for nearly a century). Charles was the grandfather of renowned poet Langston Hughes.
Langston was born free in 1817 in Louisa County, Virginia, the second of three sons and a daughter born to Lucy Jane Langston, a formerly enslaved woman of mixed African-American (including European) and Pamunkey (Native American) descent. Their father was her common-law husband, Ralph Quarles, a wealthy white planter who had immigrated from England. Quarles freed Lucy and their daughter Maria in 1806, in the course of what was a common-law relationship of more than 25 years. Charles Langston and his two younger brothers were born free, to a free woman. (Interracial marriage was illegal in Virginia at the time.) In addition to freeing Lucy and Maria, Quarles made legal provisions for his "natural" (illegitimate) children to inherit his substantial fortune after his death.
Lucy had had three children with another partner before she moved into the Great House and deepened her relationship with Quarles. Their three sons were born after that. Of the older half-siblings, William Langston had the closest relationship with Quarles's sons.
Before his death, Ralph Quarles arranged for his Quaker friend William Gooch to be made guardian of his children. As requested by Quarles, after the parents both died in 1833 (when Charles was sixteen and his younger brother John Mercer Langston was four), Gooch moved with the three boys and their half-brother William Langston to Chillicothe, Ohio, in a free state. Their father had left his natural sons substantial inheritances that provided for their education and, as adults, enabled them to work for political reform. The oldest brother, Gideon, looked so much like his father that at age 21, he took the Quarles surname.
In 1835 the older brothers Gideon and Charles started at the preparatory school at Oberlin College, where they were the first students of African descent to be admitted. Charles Langston graduated from Oberlin College. Their younger brother John Langston also graduated from there.
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Charles Henry Langston
Charles Henry Langston (1817–1892) was an American abolitionist and political activist who was active in Ohio and later in Kansas, during and after the American Civil War, where he worked for black suffrage and other civil rights. He was a spokesman for blacks of Kansas and "the West".
Born free in Louisa County, Virginia, he was the son of a wealthy white planter and his common-law wife of African American-Pamunkey ancestry, whom his father freed. His father provided for his sons' education and ensured Langston and his brothers inherited his estate. In 1835 Langston and his older brother Gideon were the first African Americans to attend Oberlin College in Ohio.
Langston worked for 30 years for equal rights, suffrage and education in Ohio and Kansas. In 1858, Langston was tried with a white colleague for the Oberlin-Wellington Rescue, a cause célèbre that was a catalyst for increasing support for abolition. That year Langston helped found the Ohio Anti-Slavery Society and, with his younger brother John as president, led it as executive secretary. After the American Civil War, he was appointed as general superintendent of refugees and freedmen for the Freedmen's Bureau in Kansas. In 1872 he was appointed as principal of the Quindaro Freedman's School (later Western University), the first black college west of the Mississippi River.
He was an older brother of John Mercer Langston, an accomplished attorney and activist, who had numerous appointed posts, and in 1888 was the first black person elected to the United States Congress from Virginia (and the last for nearly a century). Charles was the grandfather of renowned poet Langston Hughes.
Langston was born free in 1817 in Louisa County, Virginia, the second of three sons and a daughter born to Lucy Jane Langston, a formerly enslaved woman of mixed African-American (including European) and Pamunkey (Native American) descent. Their father was her common-law husband, Ralph Quarles, a wealthy white planter who had immigrated from England. Quarles freed Lucy and their daughter Maria in 1806, in the course of what was a common-law relationship of more than 25 years. Charles Langston and his two younger brothers were born free, to a free woman. (Interracial marriage was illegal in Virginia at the time.) In addition to freeing Lucy and Maria, Quarles made legal provisions for his "natural" (illegitimate) children to inherit his substantial fortune after his death.
Lucy had had three children with another partner before she moved into the Great House and deepened her relationship with Quarles. Their three sons were born after that. Of the older half-siblings, William Langston had the closest relationship with Quarles's sons.
Before his death, Ralph Quarles arranged for his Quaker friend William Gooch to be made guardian of his children. As requested by Quarles, after the parents both died in 1833 (when Charles was sixteen and his younger brother John Mercer Langston was four), Gooch moved with the three boys and their half-brother William Langston to Chillicothe, Ohio, in a free state. Their father had left his natural sons substantial inheritances that provided for their education and, as adults, enabled them to work for political reform. The oldest brother, Gideon, looked so much like his father that at age 21, he took the Quarles surname.
In 1835 the older brothers Gideon and Charles started at the preparatory school at Oberlin College, where they were the first students of African descent to be admitted. Charles Langston graduated from Oberlin College. Their younger brother John Langston also graduated from there.