John Wesley Cromwell

John Wesley Cromwell (September 5, 1846 – April 14, 1927) was a lawyer, teacher, civil servant, journalist, historian, and civil rights activist in Washington, D.C. He was among the founders of the Bethel Literary and Historical Society and the American Negro Academy, 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. 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." Cromwell was also successful as a lawyer late in life and was the first black lawyer to appear before the Interstate Commerce Commission.

Early life

John Wesley Cromwell was born into slavery on September 5, 1846, in Portsmouth, Virginia. He was the youngest of twelve children. His parents were Willis H. and Elizabeth (Carney) Cromwell. 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 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, where Ebenezer Bassett was the principal. Cromwell graduated in the summer of 1864.

He moved to Columbia, Pennsylvania, 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. 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. 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.

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 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 to create the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History 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.

Cromwell died April 14, 1927. His granddaughter Adelaide M. Cromwell, child of John Wesley Jr., is a noted sociologist and historian.