Martin Delaney: abolitionist, medical student, first Black officer in US Civil War.
Martin Delaney led Vigilance Committee, formed to support escaped slaves and fight against the fugitive slave laws in Boston. “Presided over by former president John Quincy Adams, this meeting reportedly drew 5,000 people and culminated with the appointment of a Vigilance Committee to protect those illegally arrested as fugitives.[3]”
https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/faneuil-hall-and-boston-vigilance-committees.htm
Joined an integrated militia to defed the Black community against white mob attacks.
Started The Mystery, the first African American newspaper in the western part of the US.
Delaney was one of the first three Black men to enroll in Harvard Medical School in 1850. “Unfortunately, Delany and two other African American medical students were met with hostilities from some of their classmates who signed petitions to have them dismissed. In 1851, they were released from Harvard - with credentials.”
https://www.heinzhistorycenter.org/blog/collection-spotlight-rare-martin-delany-signed-document/
He was commissioned as a major and was the first Black field officer in the US Army during the Civil War.
