Biographies

Benjamin Banneker

A free black, born in Baltimore county during the 1700's. Father was African and mother offspring of African parents and maternal grandmother of English descent. He attended school, learning to read, write and do simple arithmetic. Inherited from his parents a few acres of land upon which he supported himself. Later in life a neighbor lent him several books of astronomy of which he developed a great interest in and employed his leisure in astronomical research. Produced several editions of an almanac.

Carter Bassett

Judge Bassett was born in Washington, D.C., 1822. He is the son of Wm. H. and Eleanor (O'Neill) Bassett. Judge Bassett's father was for many years the captain of a vessel on the Atlantic. After the year 1834, he was engaged in planting. The subject's mother died in 1852 and his father in 1873.

Judge Bassett is the eldest of a family of nine children. Planting has been his principal occupation in life. At the breaking out of the war he enlisted in the Confederate service, serving in the Second Louisiana Regiment. He was wounded in the battle of Malvern Hill three times within the space of as many seconds, though not seriously. He enlisted as a private, but was subsequently promoted a captain, with staff appointment. He removed to St. Martin Parish in 1870; was elected justice of the peace in 1871, which office he shortly after resigned, to accept an appointment as parish surveyor. He was elected judge of St. Martin parish in 1876, and re-elected in 1878. In this capacity he served until the office was abolished by the constitution of 1879.

Judge Bassett married in 1868, Miss Eugenie Richard, daughter of G. and Cora (Delahoussaye) Richard. They became the parents of seven children: Amelie, Eleanor, Coralie, Eugene, Virginia, Wm. J. and Alice. Judge Bassett has always been a conservative in politics, and takes an active part in all public affairs. He and his family are Catholics.

Contributed by Mike Miller, from Southwest Louisiana Biographical and Historical, edited by William Henry Perrin, published in 1891, Biographical Section, page 309.

John Francis Cook

In 1834 he set up the only secondary school (preparing young men for the ministry) for blacks in the city. In about 1826 his Aunt Alethia Tanner purchased his freedom. In 1841 he founded the Fifteenth Street Presbyterian Church and was its pastor until his death in 1856. One of his sons became first Superintendent of Colored Schools in DC and another was elected alderman in 1868.

William Costin

William Costin was employed for 24 years as messenger for the Bank of Washington. A resolution expressing the respect for the memory of Mr. Costin, as well, as many obituary notices were written at the suggestion of the bank officers. He was known for his benevolent heart. He raised a large family, as well as taking in 4 orphan children. Pres. John Q. Adams, a few days after Mr. Costin's death, stated "the late William Costin, though he was not white, was as much respected as any man in the District, and the large concourse of citizens that attended his remains to the grave, as well white as black, was an evidence of the manner in which he was estimated by the citizens of Washington."

Mr. Costin's mother was Ann Dandridge (granddaughter of a Cherokee chief) and his reputed father belonged to a prominent white family of Virginia. However, shortly after his birth his mother married one of the Mt.Vernon slaves by the name of Costin. Ann's reputed father was the father of Martha Dandridge (later Mrs.Custis), who in 1759 married General Washington. Ann and Martha grew up together on the ancestral plantation.

William Costin married Philadelphia Judge (a cousin), one of Martha Washington's slaves at Mt.Vernon, where both were born in 1780. Their seven children (5 daughters and 2 sons) were educated along with the white children of Capitol Hill.

Source: Special report of the Commissioner of education on the condition and improvement of public schools in the District of Columbia submitted to the Senate June, 1868, and to the House, with additions, June 13, 1870, published in 1871, pages 203-204

Frederick Douglas

Douglass was an abolitionist lecturer and newspaper editor. Known as the "Sage of Anacostia". He came to Washington in 1871 and was editor of the New National Era. Served as secretary of Santo Domingo Commission in 1871, marshal of the District of Columbia from 1877 to 1881, Recorder of Deeds of the Distr.of Columbia from 1881 to 1886, and minister to Haiti from 1889 to 1891. His home was located at 316-318 A Street NE. Later this became the Museum of African Art. He also owned a large suburban home called Cedar Hill in Anacostia. The home has now been restored and opened to the public by the Park Service.

Francis Grimke

Francis Grimke' was born in South Carolina to a slave mother and a white planter father. He and his brother Archibald (who later became U.S.consult to Santo Domingo) were taken north for education at Harvard and Princeton by their father's kin. Grimke' (1850-1937) served for fifty years as a community leader and as pastor of the Fifteenth Street Presbyterian Church. He was one of the most dinstinguished clergymen of his time and an outspoken critic of racial discrimination.

Patrick J. Healy, S.J.

Patrick J. Healy, S.J., was president of Georgetown University from 1874 to 1882. Father Healy was the first black man to head a major white university and probably the first black to receive a Ph.D. He was a linguistics scholar and professor of philosophy. As president of Georgetown Univ. Healy strengthened the academic program, especially in areas of science, law and medicine.

Elizabeth Keckley

Elizabeth Keckley was a seamstress to Mrs. Jefferson Davis and Mrs. Lincoln. Born a slave, but purchased her freedom and her son's for $1,200. Founder of the Contraband Relief Organization. Raised funds for blacks in New York, Boston, Philadelphia and Washington. Later taught at Wilberforce University and published a book on her reminiscences of life in the Lincoln White House called "Behind the Scenes".

Yarrow Mamout

Old Yarrow was enslaved and brought from to America in 1752. Yarrow was serving as Sameul Beall's body servant, a position of trust that enabled him to meet other noted men who were fomenting revolution. He earned his freedom in 1796. He later became a Georgetown property owner and a bank shareholder at the Bank of Columbia.

William D. Stites

Mr. Stites was a member of the 8th IL Cavalry and was in Washington that fateful night and attended the play at Ford's Theater. Included with his bio, is a first person account of the events at Ford's Theater when President Lincoln was shot.

Alethia Browning Tanner

An Anacostia slave, Alethia Browning Tanner, was able to purchase her freedom in 1810, paying almost a thousand dollars over the market value for a female slave; in the following decades she manumitted thirteen other family members.

In her early years sold vegetables in produce stall near the President's Square. Alethia Tanner was the first woman on the Roll of Members of the Union Bethel AME Church (now Metropolitan AME Church on M Street). She owned land and a store at 14th and H Streets, which she left to her nephews. One nephew later sold the property for $100,000.