John Wesley Cromwell
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John Wesley Cromwell (September 5, 1846 – April 14, 1927) was a lawyer, teacher, civil servant, journalist, historian, and civil rights activist in Washington, DC. He was among the founders of the
Bethel Literary and Historical Society The Bethel Literary and Historical Society was an organization founded in 1881 by African Methodist Episcopal Church Bishop Daniel Payne and continued at least until 1915. It represented a highly significant development in African-American society ...
and the
American Negro Academy The American Negro Academy (ANA), founded in Washington, DC in 1897, was the first organization in the United States to support African-American academic scholarship. It operated until 1928,Smith and encouraged African Americans to undertake classic ...
, both based in the capital. He worked for decades in administration of the US Post Office. He also was a founder, editor, or contributor to a number of newspapers and journals, including most prominently ''
The People's Advocate ''The People's Advocate'' was among the first weekly African American owned and operated newspapers in the state of Virginia. It was the first African American newspaper in the city of Alexandria, Virginia. ''The People's Advocate'' moved its op ...
''. In the latter half of his career, he wrote articles and manuscripts and gave speeches, establishing himself as a leading scholar of African-American history. In 1887, he was described as the "best English scholar in the United States."William J. Simmons, Henry McNeal Turner, ''Men of Mark: Eminent, Progressive and Rising'', G. M. Rewell & Company, 1887, pp. 898–907. Cromwell was also successful as a lawyer late in life and was the first black lawyer to appear before the
Interstate Commerce Commission The Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) was a regulatory agency in the United States created by the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887. The agency's original purpose was to regulate railroads (and later trucking) to ensure fair rates, to eliminat ...
.


Early life

John Wesley Cromwell was born into slavery on September 5, 1846 in
Portsmouth, Virginia Portsmouth is an independent city in southeast Virginia and across the Elizabeth River from Norfolk. As of the 2020 census, the population was 97,915. It is part of the Hampton Roads metropolitan area. The Norfolk Naval Shipyard and Naval M ...
. He was the youngest of twelve children. His parents were Willis H. and Elizabeth (Carney) Cromwell. Cromwell's father worked as a ferryman on the Elizabeth River and was allowed to keep some of his wages. One brother, Levi, later became well known as a caterer in Washington, DC. In 1851, their father purchased freedom for his family, and they moved to
Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
in the free state of Pennsylvania. John attended school there from 1851 to 1856. He moved to a teaching school, the Preparatory Department of the
Institute for Colored Youth The Institute for Colored Youth was founded in 1837 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It became the first high school for African-Americans in the United States, although there were schools that admitted African Americans preceding it ...
, where
Ebenezer Bassett Ebenezer Don Carlos Bassett (October 16, 1833 – November 13, 1908) was United States Ambassador to Haiti from 1869 to 1877. He was the first African American diplomat and the fourth U.S. ambassador to Haiti since the two countries established ...
was the principal. Cromwell graduated in the summer of 1864. He moved to
Columbia, Pennsylvania Columbia, formerly Wright's Ferry, is a borough (town) in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 10,222. It is southeast of Harrisburg, on the east (left) bank of the Susquehanna River, ac ...
, that fall in October 1864 to begin his career as a teacher. When the school in Columbia closed, Cromwell returned to Portsmouth, Virginia, in April 1865 in the closing days of the American Civil War, starting a private school where he worked until the fall. By the end of 1865 Cromwell returned to Philadelphia; he taught at the
Baltimore Association for the Moral and Intellectual Improvement of the Colored People Baltimore Association for the Moral and Intellectual Improvement of the Colored People was an organization that aimed to improve the education of African Americans in the Baltimore, Maryland. It was founded on November 28, 1864 (shortly after Afric ...
. In March 1866, the school was attacked and burned to the ground and Cromwell was shot at. He continued to work for the organization until May. That month he returned to Virginia, working for the American Missionary Association at Providence Church in Norfolk County, Virginia. It was establishing schools across the South. At this time, he became more active in politics. He also briefly worked in the grocery business.


Public career

In Virginia, Cromwell became involved in public affairs. In 1867, Cromwell was in the
US District Court The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district, which each cover one U.S. state or, in some cases, a portion of a state. Each district cou ...
Jury Pool and served in the jury on a number of cases of government officials. On April 17, 1867, he was a delegate to the Republican convention in Richmond, Virginia and again to the Republican State convention in
Richmond, Virginia (Thus do we reach the stars) , image_map = , mapsize = 250 px , map_caption = Location within Virginia , pushpin_map = Virginia#USA , pushpin_label = Richmond , pushpin_m ...
in August. Later that year, he attended the Virginia Constitutional Convention, where he was elected clerk. In 1869, Cromwell returned to teaching, working with the Quaker group, the Philadelphia Friends. That year, Cromwell was an eyewitness to the assassination of Joseph R. Holmes, a fellow member of the Constitutional Convention and a candidate for the
Virginia House of Delegates The Virginia House of Delegates is one of the two parts of the Virginia General Assembly, the other being the Senate of Virginia. It has 100 members elected for terms of two years; unlike most states, these elections take place during odd-numbe ...
. In 1869 and 1870, he taught at a grade school in Withersville, Virginia. In 1870 he returned to the capital Richmond, where he was principal of a black school held in Dill's Bakery. In the summer of 1871, he taught a term in Southampton County. This experience influenced his later writings on Nat Turner's slave rebellion of 1831, which had occurred nearby. In the fall of 1871, Cromwell moved to
Washington DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
and enrolled in the
Howard University Howard University (Howard) is a private, federally chartered historically black research university in Washington, D.C. It is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity" and accredited by the Middle States Commissi ...
Law Department. He graduated in March 1874 and was admitted to the bar before the
Supreme Court of the District of Columbia The United States District Court for the District of Columbia (in case citations, D.D.C.) is a federal district court in the District of Columbia. It also occasionally handles (jointly with the United States District Court for the District of ...
. In the meantime, in 1872, Cromwell passed the civil service exam to qualify for an appointment in the federal government. He took a position as a government clerk. In this exam, he had the highest score of his cohort. He also took a merit exam to qualify for teaching, and scored at the top. He accepted a teaching appointment for a time in Washington County, Virginia. In 1873 and 1874, Cromwell was twice promoted in his clerkship and, along with
Robert William Waring The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honou ...
, was one of the first two black clerks to receive such an office. He was promoted to chief examiner of the division of the money order department, and was register of money order accounts until his retirement from the civil service in 1885. In April 1875, federal clerks took part in two spelling bees, which were covered by newspapers across the country. Cromwell was a finalist in both. He was successful as a lawyer and was the first black lawyer to appear before the
Interstate Commerce Commission The Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) was a regulatory agency in the United States created by the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887. The agency's original purpose was to regulate railroads (and later trucking) to ensure fair rates, to eliminat ...
. In 1875, Cromwell was a part of organizing the Virginia Educational and Historical Association; he served as its president until 1883, when it closed. Cromwell was also active as a journalist. In 1876, he organized a journal, the ''People's Advocate'' in
Alexandria, Virginia Alexandria is an independent city (United States), independent city in the northern region of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. It lies on the western bank of the Potomac River approximately south of Downto ...
, which moved to Washington DC the next year. He ran it until 1884. In 1883, he was president of the Bethel Literary society. He was a member of the Odd Fellows and of the Metropolitan AME Church. He represented the District in the 1884 World's Fair, also known as the Cotton Centennial Exhibition, at New Orleans. In 1881 Cromwell and
Daniel Alexander Payne Daniel Alexander Payne (February 24, 1811 – November 2, 1893) was an American bishop, educator, college administrator and author. A major shaper of the African Methodist Episcopal Church (A.M.E.), Payne stressed education and preparation of mi ...
founded the Bethel Literary and Historical Association, and he served as president of that lyceum in 1883. In 1897, Cromwell was a part of the formation of the
American Negro Academy The American Negro Academy (ANA), founded in Washington, DC in 1897, was the first organization in the United States to support African-American academic scholarship. It operated until 1928,Smith and encouraged African Americans to undertake classic ...
founded by
Alexander Crummell Alexander Crummell (March 3, 1819 – September 10, 1898) was a pioneering African-American minister, academic and African nationalist. Ordained as an Episcopal priest in the United States, Crummell went to England in the late 1840s to raise money ...
. He served as the organization's corresponding secretary until 1919. In 1919, he served as the fourth president for a short period. From 1901 to 1909 he was editor of the Washington weekly, the ''Washington Record.'' In 1910, he and James Robert Lincoln Diggs established the American Negro Monograph Company, a publishing company which lasted for eleven months. From 1901 to 1909 he taught and served as principals of several District schools, including Briggs, Garnet, Banneker, and Crummell schools.Hall, Steven Gilroy. "Cromwell, John Wesley," in Anthony Appiah and
Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Henry Louis "Skip" Gates Jr. (born September 16, 1950) is an American literary critic, professor, historian, and filmmaker, who serves as the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and Director of the Hutchins Center for African and African Amer ...
(eds), ''Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience,'' Oxford University Press, March 16, 2005.


Thought and legacy

Beyond his work as an educator, Cromwell played a significant role in the direction of black American thought. The Bethel Literary Organization, which he helped create and direct, and his speeches at other lyceums in the capital were highly influential. In 1900, Cromwell made a substantial donation of materials to the Howard University Library now called the Cromwell Collection. Cromwell was a strong advocate of black-owned businesses and encouraged black economic success. He believed black people should try to frequent black-owned businesses. Cromwell was considered an important statistician and historian in the later part of his life. He had great contempt for efforts to minimize the cost of slavery to blacks in America and focused significant attention on slave insurrections. Cromwell wrote that Nat Turner's revolt was an example of black people working to "help himself rather than depend on the other human agencies for the protection which could come through his own strong arm." Cromwell wrote many papers and a number of book-length pieces. Cromwell's 1914 book, ''The Negro in American History: Men and Women Eminent in the Evolution of the American of African Descent,'' influenced
Carter G. Woodson Carter Godwin Woodson (December 19, 1875April 3, 1950) was an American historian, author, journalist, and the founder of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH). He was one of the first scholars to study the h ...
to create the
Association for the Study of Negro Life and History The Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH) is an organization dedicated to the study and appreciation of African-American History. It is a non-profit organization founded in Chicago, Illinois, on September 9, 1915 ...
in 1915. Cromwell later published articles in the ''Journal of Negro History.''


Family

In 1873 Cromwell married Lucy A. McGuinn of Richmond and had seven children with her. The couple stressed the importance of education for all their children, who included Otelia, Mary E., Martha, Lucy, John Wesley Jr., and Brent. Otelia Cromwell, born in 1874, became the first black graduate of Smith College. She was a teacher and professor at Miner Teacher College, and received a PhD from Yale in 1926. Mary E. Cromwell was born in 1876 and taught mathematics. John Wesley Cromwell, Jr. was born in 1883 and taught mathematics, German, and bookkeeping; he became the first black certified public accountant. After Lucy's death, in 1892 Cromwell married Annie E. Conn of
Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania Mechanicsburg is a borough in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania. The borough is eight miles (13 km) west of Harrisburg. It is part of the Harrisburg–Carlisle metropolitan statistical area. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 8,981. ...
. Cromwell died April 14, 1927. His granddaughter
Adelaide M. Cromwell Adelaide McGuinn Cromwell (November 27, 1919 – June 8, 2019) was an American sociologist and professor emeritus at Boston University, where she co-founded the African Studies Center in 1959, and directed the graduate program in Afro-American st ...
, child of John Wesley Jr., is a noted sociologist and historian.


See also

*
African-American officeholders during and following the Reconstruction era More than 1,500 African American officeholders served during the Reconstruction era (1865–1877) after passage of the Reconstruction Acts in 1867 and 1868 as well as in the years after Reconstruction before white supremacy, disenfranchisement, ...


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cromwell, John Wesley 1846 births 1927 deaths African-American educators American educators African-American lawyers African-American historians Historians from Pennsylvania Activists for African-American civil rights People from Portsmouth, Virginia Lawyers from Washington, D.C. Lawyers from Philadelphia African-American activists Virginia Republicans Washington, D.C., Republicans 19th-century American lawyers Historians from Virginia 20th-century African-American people