Martin delany biography summary pdf

His father, Samuel, was an enslaved carpenter, and his mother, Pati, a free seamstress whose parents were African and, according to some accounts, of royal heritage. Samuel later bought his freedom and joined them. In , Delany journeyed on foot miles west to Pittsburgh, where he studied Latin, Greek, classics, and medicine, apprenticing with an abolitionist doctor.

Delany enrolled at Harvard University in —he and two others were the first African Americans accepted to Harvard Medical School—but protests from white students forced his withdrawal after only a few weeks.

Martin R. Delany was an African American abolitionist, writer, editor, doctor, and politician.

He soon became a member of the abolitionist movement, founding and editing the Mystery , a Black newspaper, from until , and co-editing with Frederick Douglass the North Star from until Douglass and the prominent abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison generally counseled peace and patience for enslaved people and integration for freed Blacks.

When, in , Delany wrote his manifesto, The Condition, Elevation, Emigration, and Destiny of the Colored People of the United States, Politically Considered , calling for emigration from the United States to Central America, it was viewed as a decisive break from mainstream abolitionism and, according to some scholars, the birth of Black nationalism.

But I must admit, that I have not hopes in this country—no confidence in the American people—with a few excellent exceptions. In , Delany moved to Canada with his wife, Catherine, whom he married in , and his children.

One of the most powerful and provocative voices to emerge from the social and political unrest pre-ceding the Civil War, the abolitionist and political activist Delany is today considered to .

The couple had eleven children, seven of whom survived into adulthood. He briefly dabbled in the politics of Liberia and during the Civil War helped to recruit and organize Black soldiers in the Union army. Commissioned a major in after meeting with U. After the war, he was transferred to South Carolina, where he remained for much of the rest of his life.

He was active politically, often supporting Democrats, though he ran as an independent Republican for South Carolina lieutenant governor in and lost the election to Richard Howell Gleaves. He also served as a trial justice in Charleston before charges of fraud were brought against him. He was forced to resign and serve a prison term. Delany pursued business interests and practiced medicine until his death in Ohio on January 24,