Peter Vogelsang

Peter Vogelsang came from a family of activists. His father was a founding member of both the African Society for Mutual Relief and St. Philip's Episcopal Church. Peter Vogelsang married into another prominent black family when he wed Theodocia DeGrasse, the daughter of George and Maria DeGrasse. During the Civil War, Peter served in the famous Massachusetts 54th Regiment under Colonel Shaw reaching the rank of lieutenant at the time of his discharge from army.

circa 1864

State Arhcives of Florida

Philip White note, Laurens Street School

Philip's father Thomas died in 1835 when Philip was about twelve years old. A year later Philip became a student at Colored School no. 2 on Laurens Street. Located in a brand new two-story building, this school, in contrast to the earlier Mulberry Street School, was run by black teachers. The boys’ principal teacher was Charles Reason.

Thomas's death left the family quite poor. The Public School Society helped out by hiring Philip and his mother for occasional, low skilled jobs. The Society's books recorded the following payments: on January 25 and April 28 1840, $3 to Philip A. White for making fires in African Public School no.2 during three months; on June 11, 1841, $15 to Elizabeth White for cleaning and whitewashing primary school no. 7.

William Bryan Public School Society Record Book, Vol 62

1840

The New-York Historical Society

P. A. White advertisement

By the early 1860s, Philip White's pharmacy was doing very well and he was becoming quite prosperous. Over the course of several months, Philip placed this ad in the Weekly Anglo African, New York's black newspaper of the period. The ad promoted a vegetable extract designed to restore hair that had turned "gray, rusty, and coarse, harsh and unpleasant" and give it "luxuriant brilliancy."

Philip A. White

Houghton News: New York Weekly Anglo-African
Hollis number: 007307139

Weekly Anglo-African

December 21, 1861

Houghton Library, Harvard University

Thomas Downing, New York City pioneer and restaurant owner

Born into slavery in Virginia, Thomas Downing escaped north with his family and settled in New York City. He was a prominent leader in the black community, an early member of the African Society for Mutual Relief, a vestryman at St. Philip's, a promoter of education for black youth, and a fighter for black civil rights in the city.

In addition, Downing ran an oyster house on Broad Street. Because of its proximity to the Customs House, the port, banks, the Merchant exchange, and other important businesses, Downing counted some of New York’s most powerful men among his customers. It was said that he often passed messages back and forth between customers at different tables and that people then assumed that he wielded influence at the highest level of city government. As a result, scores of office seekers flocked to his restaurant.

When Downing died in 1866, hundreds of people—both black and white—attended his funeral.

NYPL: psnypl_scg_527
Portrait Collection

Photographs and Prints Division, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations