James W.C. Pennington
(circa 1807-1870), Clergyman, teacher, authorSitter in 1 portrait
African American minister, writer and abolitionist. At 19 years of age, Pennington escaped slavery in western Maryland. He reached New York where he worked and gained some education in Brooklyn. He was the first black student to attend Yale University. Upon completion of his studies, he was ordained in the Congregational Church as a minister. Pennington was amongst the American delegates to the Second World Conference on Slavery in London. He helped raise funds for the abolition movement whilst on the public lecture circuit in England. He was the author of The Origin and History of the Colored People (1841) and published his memoir The Fugitive Blacksmith in 1849.
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