U.S. Envoys and Ministers – 1869-1935
John Mercer Langston (1829-1897)
John Mercer Langston, the youngest of four children, was born a free black in Louisa County, Virginia, on December 14, 1829....
Lester Aglar Walton (1882-1965)
Liberia, 1935
John Edward West Thompson (1855-1918)
John Edward West Thompson was an African American non-career diplomat. He served as U.S. Minister Resident/Consul General to Haiti from...
Ebenezer D. Bassett (1833-1908)
Ebenezer D. Bassett was appointed U.S. Minister Resident to Haiti in 1869, making him the first African American diplomat. For...
Frederick Douglass (1817-1895)
Frederick Douglass was born into Maryland slavery in 1817 to a slave mother and a slave master father. Young Douglass...
James Milton Turner (1840-1915)
James Milton Turner was an African American Missourian who was a prominent politician, education advocate, and diplomat in the years...
Henry Highland Garnet (1815-1882)
Born into slavery near New Markey, Maryland on December 23, 1815, Henry Highland Garnet escaped from bondage via the Underground...
