Remond, Charles Lenox, 1810-1873

Charles Lenox Remond (1810-1873) was born in Salem, Massachusetts into a prominent African-American family. His father John had emigrated from the Dutch colony of Curacao in 1798 and owned a successful catering business, while his mother Nancy's father was a Revolutionary War veteran. Both his parents were active abolitionists and Charles followed suit (as did his sister Sarah), speaking on the anti-slavery lecture circuit from an early age. In 1840, he gave a lecture at the World Anti-Slavery Convention in London and in 1842 became the first African-American to address the Massachusetts state legislature to protest racial discrimination on railroads and steamboats; with Frederick Douglass and other black abolitionist activists, he also helped recruit African-American soldiers into the Union Army's all-black Massachusetts 54th Regiment.

[Adapted from the entry "Remond, Charles Lenox (1810-1873)" in BlackPast.org]

From the guide to the Charles Lenox Remond Letter, 1859, (Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Libraries)