John Van Surley DeGrasse seated

John DeGrasse was the younger son of George and Maria DeGrasse. Theodocia Degrasse was his sister and Peter Vogelsang his brother-in-law. After receiving his medical degree from Bowdoin College, John moved to Boston in the early 1850s. In 1863 he volunteered as assistant surgeon with the First North Carolina Volunteers (later the 35th regiment of the USCT). Unlike Peter Vogelsang, he found himself the target of virulent racism from some of the white officers and surgeons. Accused of drunkenness and dereliction of duty in 1864, he was court-martialed and dishonorably discharged from the army. He died soon thereafter in 1868.

Photograph 36.7
The Massachusetts Historical Society

circa 1864

The Museum of African American History, Boston

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

Cornelia Guignon letter (repayment of debt)

After the death of his first wife, Rebecca, Peter Guignon married Cornelia Ray sometime in the mid to late 1840s. For years Peter had been struggling to find steady work, trying his hand in "cigars" as well as in hairdressing. This note, in which Cornelia apologizes for not being able to repay a loan from Albro Lyons, Peter's former brother-in-law, underscores the couple's financial insecurity. A few years later, Cornelia's brother, Peter Williams Ray, brought Peter in to run his drugstore.

Cornelia Guignon

NYPL ID number: 1819708
Harry A. Williamson Papers: additions, 1881-1962

1854

Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations

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

Charles Ray

Born in Falmouth, Mass, Charles B. Ray moved to New York City in 1832. Although he was an ordained Methodist minister, Ray had many other occupations as well. He ran a boot and shoe store, and, In the late 1830s, took over the editorship of the city's black newspaper, the Colored American, for a short period of time. Ray was also actively engaged in many important political causes. He fought for the restitution of black male suffrage taken away by an amendment to the State constitution in 1822. He was a member of New York's Vigilance Committee and harbored many runaway slaves in in his home until they found safe passage to proceed North.

Carter Woodson, The Negro in Our History (1922).

George T. Downing and Family

George Downing lived to a ripe old age. In this photograph, he is seated by a table, surrounded by unidentified female relatives. Paintings and portraits of family members hang on the walls in the background.

Photograph 36.13
The Massachusetts Historical Society

circa 1890s

The Museum of African American History, Boston

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