Charles Henry Langston facts for kids

Charles Henry Langston (1817–1892) was an important American abolitionist and political activist. He worked to end slavery and fought for equal rights for Black people. He was active first in Ohio and later in Kansas. He worked for the right to vote for Black citizens and other civil rights. He became a strong voice for Black communities in Kansas and the western United States.

Charles Langston was born free in Louisa County, Virginia. His father was a wealthy white plantation owner, and his mother was a free Black woman of African American and Pamunkey (Native American) heritage. His father made sure Charles and his brothers received a good education. He also arranged for them to inherit his money. In 1835, Charles and his older brother Gideon were among the first African Americans to attend Oberlin College in Ohio.

Langston spent 30 years working for equal rights, the right to vote, and education for Black people in Ohio and Kansas. In 1858, he was involved in the Oberlin–Wellington Rescue. This famous event helped increase support for the movement to end slavery. That same year, Langston helped start the Ohio Anti-Slavery Society. His younger brother, John Mercer Langston, was president, and Charles was the executive secretary.

After the American Civil War, Charles Langston worked for the Freedmen's Bureau in Kansas. This organization helped formerly enslaved people. In 1872, he became the principal of the Quindaro Freedman's School. This school later became Western University, the first Black college west of the Mississippi River.

Charles was the older brother of John Mercer Langston, a famous lawyer and activist. John was the first Black person elected to the United States Congress from Virginia in 1888. Charles Langston was also the grandfather of the well-known poet Langston Hughes.

Early Life and Education

Charles Langston was born free in 1817 in Louisa County, Virginia. He was the second of three sons born to Lucy Jane Langston. Lucy was a formerly enslaved woman of mixed African American and Pamunkey (Native American) background. Their father was Ralph Quarles, a wealthy white plantation owner from England. Ralph freed Lucy and their daughter Maria in 1806. Charles and his two younger brothers were born free because their mother was already free.

Ralph Quarles made sure his children would inherit his large fortune. After both parents died in 1833, a Quaker friend named William Gooch became the boys' guardian. Gooch moved with Charles and his brothers to Chillicothe, Ohio, a free state. The money their father left them helped pay for their education. It also allowed them to work for political change as adults.

In 1835, Charles and his older brother Gideon became the first students of African descent at the preparatory school at Oberlin College. Charles Langston later graduated from Oberlin College. His younger brother, John Langston, also graduated from there.

Working for Change

Ohio Activism

Charles Langston quickly became involved in Black political movements in Ohio. Oberlin was a major center for the abolitionist movement. Many people there helped the Underground Railroad, a secret network that helped enslaved people escape to freedom. Langston began working for equal rights and the right to vote for Black people. He also introduced his younger brother John to his political friends.

In 1858, Langston was part of a group that freed John Price, an enslaved person who had escaped. This event was called the Oberlin–Wellington Rescue. The group helped Price escape to Canada and freedom. This brave rescue gained national attention. The government wanted to punish the rescuers.

A jury charged 37 men, including 12 free Black men. In response, the state arrested the US Marshal and his team who were trying to capture Price. After talks between state and federal officials, only Charles Langston and a white man named Simon M. Bushnell were tried. They were accused of breaking the 1850 Fugitive Slave Act.

Both men were found guilty by an all-white jury. Langston gave a powerful speech to the court. He spoke strongly about ending slavery and bringing justice for Black people. He said he would always help anyone who was wrongly seized as a slave, even if it meant punishment for himself. His speech was met with loud applause. The judge gave them light sentences.

Kansas Leadership

In 1862, during the Civil War, Langston moved to Leavenworth, Kansas. There, he started a school for "contrabands"—enslaved people who had escaped to Union army lines from Missouri. He taught children at this school for about three years. In 1863, Langston returned to Ohio to help recruit African Americans for the United States Colored Troops.

By 1865, many Black people lived in Leavenworth, Kansas. That year, Langston was appointed as the general superintendent for refugees and freedmen for the Freedmen's Bureau in Kansas. He was very active in cities like Topeka, Lawrence, and Atchison, working for equality.

From 1863 to 1870, Langston worked for equal rights for Black people in Kansas. He fought for their right to vote, to serve on juries, and to have their children educated in public schools. In 1863, he helped lead a state meeting of African Americans. They asked the state government to grant Black men the right to vote.

In 1867, a vote was held in Kansas on whether Black men should be allowed to vote. Women's suffrage (the right for women to vote) was also on the ballot. Both measures were defeated. Black men in Kansas did not get the right to vote until 1870, after the Fifteenth Amendment was passed nationally. Black men were allowed to serve on juries starting in 1874.

In 1872, Langston became the president of Quindaro Freedman's School. This school was located near Kansas City. It later became Western University. It was the first college for Black students established west of the Mississippi River. The school trained teachers and grew under Langston's leadership.

As more Black people moved to Kansas after the Civil War, Langston helped them. He assisted the "exodusters" and other early migrants who came to the state. In 1880, he led a statewide meeting that asked for help for these new arrivals.

In Lawrence, Langston also worked as an editor for the Historic Times, a local newspaper. This paper supported equal rights and justice for Black people.

Family Life

After his first wife passed away, Charles Langston married Mary Patterson Leary in Oberlin in 1869. Mary was the widow of Lewis Sheridan Leary, another activist from Oberlin. Lewis had died during John Brown's Raid in 1859. Mary had a daughter named Louise from her first marriage. Charles and Mary had two children together.

The Langstons lived in Lawrence, Kansas, for the rest of their lives. Their children were Nathaniel Turner Langston, named after a leader of a slave rebellion, and Caroline Mercer Langston. Caroline later had a son named Langston Hughes, who became a very famous poet. The Langstons also had a foster son named Dessalines Langston, named after a leader of the Haitian Revolution.

Community Work

Besides his political work, Charles Langston was very active in his community. In Columbus, Ohio, he was president of the Colored Benevolent Society. He was also a leader in the Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Kansas. He helped start the Inter-state Library Association and was active in the African Methodist Episcopal Church.

Legacy and Recognition

• In 1872, the Kansas Republican Party honored Langston. They nominated him as one of four electors to cast the state's votes for President Ulysses S. Grant.
• When he died in 1892, the Lawrence Weekly Record published a long obituary about him. This showed how highly he was respected in his community.
• Historian Richard B. Sheridan wrote that Charles Langston used his skills to improve the lives of other African Americans. He was a leader in the Underground Railroad, in ending slavery, in education, and in politics. For nearly 30 years, he led campaigns in Kansas for Black people's right to vote and to serve on juries.