Langston certainly made a wise move. A number of free African Americans left Louisa for greener pastures up North. There certainly was not much opportunity in the extremely stratified society in Louisa County. Oddly, a number returned to the area by the 1880's and were then listed as white. The area is simply amazing!
J. K. Brandau
Murder At Green Springs:
The True Story of the Hall Case,
Firestorm of Prejudices
http://www.murderatgreensprings.com
--- On Tue, 6/10/08, Bearss, Sara (LVA) <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
From: Bearss, Sara (LVA) <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: [VA-HIST] John Mercer Langston
To: [log in to unmask]
Date: Tuesday, June 10, 2008, 2:44 PM
Presumably the marker in question is the Virginia historical marker
pictured at http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=5614 . It does not say
that Langston was Louisa County's first African American elected
official; it says: "in 1855 Langston became township clerk of Brownheim,
Ohio--the first African American popularly elected to office." There's
an ambiguous statement for you--does it mean in Brownheim, Ohio, in the
state of Ohio, or in the whole country? The marker also notes that
Langston was Virginia's first black congressman. The marker text dates
from 1995.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Sara B. Bearss
[log in to unmask]
Senior Editor, Dictionary of Virginia Biography
Friends don't let friends split infinitives.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
-----Original Message-----
From: Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Tarter, Brent (LVA)
Sent: Tuesday, June 10, 2008 2:09 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [VA-HIST] John Mercer Langston
This first paragraph in the notice about Langston that has begun this
conversation reads:
"LOUISA, Va. -- Planted in the lawn at the courthouse on West Main
Street here is a gray historical marker that draws little attention. It
proudly proclaims that the country's first black elected official was
native son John Mercer Langston, born in this central Virginia county,
the son of a wealthy white planter and an emancipated slave of Indian
and black ancestry."
I think that there's merely a keyboarding mistake at fault here in the
form of an erroneous "r." The second sentence should probably begin,
"It
proudly proclaims that the county's first black elected official," not
the "country's."
$0.02 worth from
Brent Tarter
The Library of Virginia
[log in to unmask]
Please visit the Library of Virginia's Web site at
http://www.lva.virginia.gov
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