If I am correct he is related to Langston Hughes. Jane Steele. -----Original Message----- >From: "Tarter, Brent (LVA)" <[log in to unmask]> >Sent: Jun 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 > >______________________________________ >To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe please see the instructions at >http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html Lillian Jane Steele ______________________________________ To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html