George Boyer Vashon

George Boyer Vashon (July 25, 1824 – October 5, 1878) was an African American scholar, poet, lawyer, and abolitionist.

George Boyer Vashon
Born	(1824-07-25)July 25, 1824 Carlisle, Pennsylvania, US
Died	October 5, 1878(1878-10-05) (aged 54) Rodney, Mississippi, US
Nationality	American
Occupation(s)	Lawyer, teacher
Spouse	Susan Paul Vashon (married 1857–1878; death)
Children	7
Relatives	Mary Frances Vashon (sister)

Biography

George Boyer Vashon was born in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, the third child and only son of an abolitionist, John Bethune Vashon (or John Bathan Vashon).^[1] In 1840, at age 16, he enrolled in Oberlin Collegiate Institute (later Oberlin College), and in 1844 he became its first African-American graduate,^[2] and the valedictorian of his class.^[3]: 106

Vashon's graduation from Oberlin was not only a personal triumph it was an important step for the anti-slavery movement. Oberlin had welcomed and attracted black American students. It was a key initiative of the anti-slavery movement - to prepare for final emancipation. Before Vashon a few black American students had enrolled in Oberlin but dropped out. Nearly ten years went by between the founding of Oberlin and Vashon's graduation. His graduation was a relief. ^[4] Vashon's early education in Pittsburgh was provided in part by Rev. Lewis Woodson, who also taught Martin Delany. Delany lived with the Vashon family for a time. ^[5] The second Oberlin graduate was John Mercer Langston, who lived for a time in his youth in Cincinati with one of Lewis Woodson's brothers. Vashon mentored Langston. ^[6] In all 23 black Americans graduated from Oberlin College before the Civil War.

Vashon was the first practicing African-American lawyer in New York State, but was denied the right to practice in Pennsylvania because of his "race", first in 1847 and again in 1868.^[1] According to Judge Thomas Mellon, "The teachings of history and physiology clearly establish the fact that social equality and connection between the races in the domestic relations can only be productive of evil—shortening life and weakening the physical and mental condition, as a general rule." He proposed that there be a separate territory for Blacks in the United States where they could vote, practice law, and serve on juries, but not in Pennsylvania.^[7]

Using the same credentials, Vashon was the following week admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court.^[8]

In 1853, he was a prominent attendee of the radical abolitionist National African American Convention in Rochester, New York. His was one of five names attached to the address of the convention to the people of the United States published under the title, The Claims of Our Common Cause, along with Frederick Douglass, James Monroe Whitfield, Henry O. Wagoner, and Amos Noë Freeman.^[9] In 1853 he joined the faculty of New York Central College, near Cortland, New York, as a replacement for exiled William G. Allen.^[10] In 1857, he married Susan Paul Vashon.^[11] In the 1870s he lived and worked for a time in Washington, D.C., where he also taught young African Americans at a night school there.^[12]

Vashon High School, in St. Louis, Missouri, is named for Vashon and his son, John Boyer Vashon.

In 2010, 163 years after he applied, the Pennsylvania Bar admitted him.^[13]

See also

• List of first minority male lawyers and judges in New York