The African-American Biography Research Assignment for Advanced High
School and College Students
Theresa Vara-Dannen, J.D., Ph.D.
University of Connecticut Early College Experience American Studies Instructor, Darien
High School, Darien, CT
Formerly at University of Connecticut Early College Experience American Studies
Department at University High School of Science and Engineering, Hartford, CT
This project meets the following Common Core standards:
Key Ideas and Details:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.11-12.1
Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources,
connecting insights gained from specific details to an understanding of the text as a
whole.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.11-12.2
Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an
accurate summary that makes clear the relationships among the key details and ideas.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.11-12.3
Evaluate various explanations for actions or events and determine which explanation
best accords with textual evidence, acknowledging where the text leaves matters
uncertain.
Craft and Structure:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.11-12.6
Evaluate authors' differing points of view on the same historical event or issue by
assessing the authors' claims, reasoning, and evidence.
Integration of Knowledge and Ideas:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.11-12.7
Integrate and evaluate multiple sources of information presented in diverse formats and
media (e.g., visually, quantitatively, as well as in words) in order to address a question
or solve a problem.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.11-12.8
Evaluate an author's premises, claims, and evidence by corroborating or challenging
them with other information.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.11-12.9
Integrate information from diverse sources, both primary and secondary, into a coherent
understanding of an idea or event, noting discrepancies among sources.
Key Ideas and Details:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.11-12.1
Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says
explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text
leaves matters uncertain.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.11-12.3
Analyze a complex set of ideas or sequence of events and explain how specific
individuals, ideas, or events interact and develop over the course of the text.
Craft and Structure:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.11-12.5
Analyze and evaluate the effectiveness of the structure an author uses in his or her
exposition or argument, including whether the structure makes points clear, convincing,
and engaging.
Integration of Knowledge and Ideas:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.11-12.7
Integrate and evaluate multiple sources of information presented in different media or
formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively) as well as in words in order to address a question
or solve a problem.
Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.11-12.10
By the end of grade 11, read and comprehend literary nonfiction in the grades 11-CCR
text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the
range.
By the end of grade 12, read and comprehend literary nonfiction at the high end of the
grades 11-CCR text complexity band independently and proficiently.
The Project
Each year I compile a list of possible subjects from local and national newspaper
obituaries, local biographies, histories and other sources. This list may have some
information (for example, “Thelma Glass - helped organize Alabama bus boycott”), but
for the most part, the information is minimal. In order to produce a polished and
accurate biography, students embark on a research project which requires them to
choose a subject and find as much verifiable information as they can from primary and
secondary sources.
(Please see: What is a primary
source? <http://www.oxfordaasc.com/content/teach_resources/teacher_2.jsp#what>
and What is a secondary
source? <http://www.oxfordaasc.com/content/teach_resources/teacher_2.jsp#secondar
y> for more information on sources.)
Some of this material may be found through:







Bibliomation or state public library systems
state historical societies
state libraries
university libraries
local historical societies
local libraries
Proquest Historical Newspaper - to find older issues of American
Periodical Series (APS), the Hartford Courant, the New York Amsterdam
News, and the New York Times.
Primary sources include (but are not limited to):

Books

Newspapers, Magazines, and Newsletter articles

Diaries

Courtroom testimonies, verdicts, legal documents

Songs, records, sheet music, concerts

Interviews

Speeches

Photographs, posters, cartoons, advertisements, sketches, blueprints

Films and television shows

Radio recordings

Polls, the census, public works surveys

Memoirs and autobiographies
The Procedure
To begin, I would suggest submitting your list of possible subjects to the Editors of the AANB
(African American Biography Online: aanbonline@oup.com) before distributing the list to
students. That eliminates the possibility of researching a subject whose biography has already
been written. The Editors may also have suggestions about available subjects.
Once the list has been vetted, students choose a subject and begin their work. Because
of the likelihood that students will simply get mired in Google searches, they begin their
electronic research in class under my supervision. My students have access to the
excellent University of Connecticut electronic resources, but sometimes need help
negotiating their way to archives of historical, African-American newspapers and other
primary sources.
Immediately, I instruct students simply to search the internet for the subject’s name in
quotes; placing the name in quotes limits hits to the complete name. Please see: How
do I begin researching an
individual? <http://www.oxfordaasc.com/content/teach_resources/teacher_2.jsp#individ
ual>. Once students get a sense of the subject’s lifespan, geographical connections and
field of work, they can use this information to search other, more primary, academic and
archival resources. When a student can literally find nothing on a subject in her first
efforts, I check her process; if there is little information, I suggest another subject, rather
than have her pursue increasingly frustrating research.
Students must read all their sources with some reasonable caution, as sometimes even
primary sources contain errors of fact. The students review the basic rules for historians
to be sure they understand this. See Basic Rules for Historians:
<http://www.oxfordaasc.com/content/teach_resources/teacher_2.jsp#rules>.
Challenges
One of the challenges students face is either a plethora or a scarcity of information. In
the event a student finds too much, I urge students to locate a sample AANB entry for a
subject who had a long, eventful and productive life in a similar field to see how the
author wrote the article. Some information that may appear to be important may not be,
and a sample gives a student a good sense of what to include.
In the case of sparse information, students must sometimes look to other sources; for
example, some African American soldiers who fought in the Revolution or the Civil War
are documented in military records, but their roles are unknown. Determining the
actions and whereabouts of their regiments during their period of active service can
offer some useful background. Additionally, some veterans seem to have disappeared
after the war. In these cases, military pension records or census records can sometimes
be helpful. If nothing more can be found, the biography must be brief, but perhaps will
still be valuable for the identification of one soldier’s role in a particular war.
Another difficulty students face is finding the maiden names and birth families of women
subjects. In some cases, this information is available in an obituary or a secondary
source. Ancestry.com can be helpful in turning up marriage and birth records, but
women subjects often require more time because of the difficulties presented by
married names and their frequent omission from news accounts. In some rare cases,
church newsletters, if accessible online, have been useful.
Resources in Hard Copy Form
Students are required to print or copy all resources (letters, newspaper accounts,
obituaries, census records, etc.) with bibliographical source information attached. This
eliminates the possibility that students will not be able to identify a valuable source after
spending much time searching for it. It also eases the next step which requires students
to highlight and number each fact they will use in their article. The numbering process
need not be cumbersome, but some students have found it easier to highlight in color
code; for example, all early life information is yellow, schooling information is orange,
etc.
After students have drawn all this information together, they write out their first draft of
the biography, using a sample from the African American National Biography as a
model. Students bring their first draft and all their resources to class and peer edit their
work; they are instructed to read each other’s resources and then the biography draft,
while looking carefully for similarities of phrasing, inaccuracies, or important omissions
of fact. This alerts all students to the dangers of plagiarism in their work, while reflecting
on the completeness of their essay; the peer review process also primes students to
value the fluidity of their writing, their careful fidelity to detail as confirmed by their
sources, and the reactions of potential readers. Additionally, these multiple drafts make
it almost impossible not to succeed to some degree on this project if they have done
their research in class.
For questions about the mechanics of writing the biography, I have a hard copy of the
AANB Contributor’s Manual available in class and students also have online access for
questions at home. Please see:
<http://hutchinscenter.fas.harvard.edu/dubois/projects/african-american-nationalbiography/contributors-manual>.
Final Review
To save preparation time, and to urge students to be their own proofreaders, I have my
students continue to review their own drafts and those of their partners until it appears
that all errors and omissions have been corrected. This generally takes at least three
drafts corrected in class, followed by a fourth draft to be reviewed by the teacher.
When biographies are ready for teacher review, all resources are attached to the draft
to save time. While it is the student’s goal and responsibility to present the biography in
its most perfect form, the teacher’s additional scrutiny eliminates the risk of error or
plagiarism.
By this time, the biography should be evaluated on its fluency, accuracy and conformity
to AANB style. Again, additional, detailed information about style, citations and word
allotment is available in the Contributor’s Manual at
<http://hutchinscenter.fas.harvard.edu/dubois/projects/african-american-nationalbiography/contributors-manual>.
In assessing student work, any rubric may be used, but the following simple rubric
works best in my classes:
AANB Rubric
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Found as much primary source material as possible:
Formatted essay in AANB style:
Further Reading included and correct:
Grammatically correct:
All primary documents attached:
Biography shows careful attention to detail:
20
15
15
15
15
20
________
________
________
________
________
________
Total:_______
Tardiness deduction: 20 points per day
Plagiarism penalty: 100 points.
Advantages of the Project

Students are doing true, publication-directed, historical research.

The research and writing required address all the Common Core skills noted
earlier.
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Students have reported becoming “attached” to their subjects. After learning
about the accomplishments their subjects achieved against incalculable odds,
they feel committed to getting their subjects’ names “into the history books.”

Students, who themselves face daunting challenges in life, are inspired and
moved by the perseverance of the eminent people they research. Many students
say they feel sure they can reach their goals now that they have learned what
others have done.

The project raises a general awareness of the different stages of civil rights
progress in American history; in spite of multiple American History courses, they
are often shocked to learn that the military was still segregated during World War
II and that African American entertainers had a difficult time finding a welcoming
hotel through the 1960s.The project also places individuals into their historical
context, enriching student understanding of both the era and the subject.

Students must adapt their writing style to that of the AANB, conveying factual
information chronologically, clearly and objectively. Learning to write for a
specific academic publication offers students experience in tailoring their work
appropriately.

Students are given the opportunity to act like scholars and be treated like
scholars. Some of the students have described this as the first “meaningful”
academic work of their lives; they are writing purposefully, not just to get an
assignment done for a grade. They are intrinsically motivated to “be published.”

The project often requires students to visit local historical societies and libraries
sometimes for the first time. This opens them up to the resources and
professional assistance in their own areas, and offers them the opportunity to
understand both the joys and frustrations of academic and especially historical
research.
SAMPLE STUDENT BIOGRAPHIES
Citation:
Aisevbonaye, Angela and Nataly Bernard. "Canty, Marietta." African American National
Biography, edited by Ed. Henry Louis Gates Jr.. , edited by , Evelyn Brooks
Higginbotham. Oxford African American Studies Center,
http://www.oxfordaasc.com/article/opr/t0001/e5270 (accessed Mon Oct 12 17:05:13
EDT 2015).
Canty, Marietta
By: Aisevbonaye, Angela and Nataly Bernard.
(30 Sept. 1905 – 9 July 1986),
actress, was born in Hartford, Connecticut, to Henry Carl Canty, a city hall elevator
operator, and Mary Ann Gamble Canty, a housewife. She was born Mary Etta Canty,
but later decided to change her name to Marietta because she felt it was a more
memorable name for when she went on Broadway. She was the fourth born of five
children (Arnold, Henry Jr., Carl, and Emily). She attended Northeast Elementary
School and Hartford Public High School, where she became well known for her
excellence in elocution and singing. She was a fervent member of the Metropolitan
African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church on Main Street in Hartford, where she also
exhibited her exquisite singing voice.
At age eighteen, Marietta was asked to be a last minute replacement for her brother
Carl in a Charles S. Gilpin Players Production in Hartford. She was given the pants that
her brother was supposed to wear in the play and was then hurried rather haphazardly
onto the stage. Thus began her acting career. She became one of fifteen new members
of the Gilpin Players. Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, Marietta Canty, with the Gilpin
Players, performed original productions as well as their renditions of various traditional,
well-known plays. By 1933, Canty was performing on Broadway. While in nursing
school (Lincoln Hospital School of Nursing, New York City) she auditioned for a part
in Run Lil' Chillun, and was awarded a role. Unfortunately, her opportunity to perform on
Broadway was delayed for a short time due to the fact that it Run Lil' Chillun was made
possible only by federal work funds, and in order for Canty to participate in the play, she
had to be on welfare. Since she was not in this situation, she could not continue with the
production. She temporarily took a job as a governess to support herself.
When Jerry Werlin, a member of the Works Progress Administration Theater Project,
saw how well Canty acted in her performances at the Harlem Public Library, he
introduced her to John Houseman, who was the director of the project's African
American section. It was after an audition with John Houseman that she came back to
Broadway. Some of the first plays that she acted in include Kiss the Boys
Goodbye and Horse Fever with Gene Tierney and Ezra Stone, respectively. By 1936,
she was in Correspondent Unknown, playing the part of the loyal servant Bessie. In
1933, she was able to get a walk-on role in the film version of The Emperor Jones.
One of the biggest accomplishments during her extraordinary career came in 1940,
when she performed in a stage production of The Night of January 16th, in Miami
Beach, Florida. It was the first time in the state of Florida that African American actors
performed on stage with an all-white cast for an all-white audience. The audience and
various critics were highly pleased with Canty's performance. Canty and Kelsey Pharr II,
another African American actor in the play, helped make it possible for African
Americans to act in more plays and break down the racial barrier.
In 1941, Canty was cast in the play No Time For Comedy because of her remarkable
performance in the Night of January 16th. The producer of No Time For Comedy,
Francis Lederer, encouraged Canty to act in films. After several screen tests, Marietta
Canty appeared in the movie The Lady Is Willing in 1942. This was her first film since
her walk-on appearance in The Emperor Jones in 1933.
Marlene Dietrich, one of the stars of The Lady Is Willing, requested in 1942 that Canty
have a special part in her next movie, The Spoilers, because Dietrich was so impressed
with Canty's delightful performance in The Lady Is Willing.
Canty appeared in many popular and award-winning movies over the next decade,
including The Magnificent Pope (1942), Three Hearts of Julia (1943), Irish Eyes Are
Smiling (1944), Sweet Homicide (1946), Johnny Comes Flying Home (1946), Mother Is
a Freshman (1949), My Foolish Heart (1949), Father of the Bride (1950), A Streetcar
Named Desire (1951), Valentino (1951), The Bad and the Beautiful (1952), and The
Man Called Peter (1955).
In 1952, though, Canty temporarily gave up acting to care for her ailing mother, Mary
Canty, refusing to accept any job offers for more than a year. When her mother died in
April of 1953, Canty resumed her acting career, and went on to appear in a variety of
television shows and stock productions.
A talented singer and actress, Marietta Canty was kind, well liked, and trusted by the
people that she met. Rachel M. Richardson, a good friend of the Canty family is quoted
as saying, “She had a wonderful personality. She had loads of friends and she could
make friends with someone the first time she talked to you” (Hartford Courant). When
she was off the set of Rebel without a Cause(1955), she spent time counseling the
troubled star of the movie, James Dean. The James Dean Club actually sent the Canty
family flowers and condolences in appreciation for her help with James Dean's issues.
Canty paved the way for African Americans to appear more often in films. Although the
roles she played were almost always maids and servants, she performed with
remarkable dignity. Displeased with the unfortunate lack of diversity of the parts into
which African Americans were cast, Canty and other African American actors formed
their own professional version of the Gilpin Players to provide an alternative to the
never-changing role as the loyal, wise servant to white coactors, or as a comical
character, not to be taken seriously by the audience.
Rebel without a Cause was the last movie in which she appeared. She also had a brief
stint with radio, performing along with Acadamy Award–winner Hattie Mcdaniel on
the Beulah Show, where Canty played a decorous, overly proper Northerner who was
mocked and ridiculed for her prim manner of speaking. In 1956, she was offered the
role of the maid on the Danny Thomas Show. Around this time Canty's father became
ill, so she rejected this offer and permanently gave up her job as an actress to care for
her father. She worked as a nurse for Hartford's Terry Steam Turbine Corporation until
she retired in 1971. When she stopped acting in 1956, she was fifty-one years old.
In the years following her acting career, she was still heavily connected to her church,
serving as the president of the Local Home Mission of the African Methodist Episcopal
Zion Church from 1960 to 1980 and as conference director for the New England Annual
Conference of the AME Zion Church from 1956 to 1980.
Canty was also very much involved with the community outside her church. She served
as a justice of the peace from 1966 to 1973. She was a member of the Hartford Urban
League and the board of the Hartford chapter of the Young Women's Christian
Association, and president of the Hartford council of the National Council of Negro
Women. Even though she was finished with professional acting, she never really let
acting and theater go. She volunteered at the Union Settlement House in Hartford,
giving acting lessons to youth in her community.
In 1961 and 1963, Canty ran unsuccessfully for office on the Hartford City Council. She
ran as a Republican. Her proposals included the use of more streetlights along North
Main Street, the implementation of more, improved day care centers, and new bus
routes to accommodate the changes in population that Hartford was undergoing.
Though, like the vast majority of African American actors, Canty was never nominated
for the highest awards (such as the Academy Awards or Tony Awards), she was
recognized many times for her exemplary citizenship and her various community
service efforts. She received the Certificate of Service and Award of Recognition from
the Red Cross, the Club 51 Driver for the Blind Award of Recognition in 1960, the
Humanitarian Award from the Hartford Section of the National Council of Negro Women
in 1969, and the Hartford Neighborhood Centers Certificate of Appreciation.
Canty died while at home in 1986, when she was eighty years old. She was buried at
Northwood Cemetery in Windsor, in the Wilson Section plot.
Her house was put on the African American Freedom Trail, which has over fifty sites of
importance to the history of African Americans. The two-family house, bought by her
family in 1931, and which they still own, is located on Mahl Avenue in Hartford.
With her energy and professionalism in the theater and film industries, and her
dedication as a community activist, Marietta Canty spent her life breaking down barriers
for generations to follow.
Further Reading

Hartford Courant, 29 July 1986.

Hartford Courant, 12 July 1986.

Hartford Courant, 10 July 1986.
© Oxford University Press 2012. All Rights Reserved
Citation:
Ali, Yasmine. "Brown, Addie." African American National Biography, edited by Ed.
Henry Louis Gates Jr.. , edited by and Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham. . Oxford African
American Studies Center, http://www.oxfordaasc.com/article/opr/t0001/e5069
(accessed Mon Oct 12 17:07:13 EDT 2015).
Brown, Addie
By: Yasmine Ali
(21 Dec. 1841 – 7 January 1870),
a literate domestic servant, grew up in Philadelphia and in New York City with her
family. While her parents' names remain unknown, in one of her 1859 letters, she
revealed that her father owned a restaurant. Brown severed ties with her family after her
father's death in October 1862. In her letters to Rebecca Primus, her beloved friend, she
discussed how her mother had remarried a man whom Addie described as often
present in her nightmares.
Brown is known today primarily because of her relationship to Rebecca Primus of
Hartford, Connecticut. Primus was the only African American among the five teachers
selected by the Freedman's Society in 1865 to head to the south and start schools for
freed blacks. She relocated to Royal, Maryland, and founded a school there, working
until 1869. She was an inspirational figure and a close friend to Addie Brown and seems
to have become her lover. Brown's correspondence with Primus, beginning in 1865, is
valuable for the insight into the African American community of nineteenth-century
Hartford, including the activities of the Talcott Street Congregational Church, where
Primus's father, Holdridge Primus, served as deacon.
The Brown letters are the subject of Farah Griffin's book, Beloved Sisters and Loving
Friends: Letters from Rebecca Primus of Royal Maryland and Addie Brown of Hartford
Connecticut, 1854–1868, which highlights the significance of the same-sex relationship
of the women as voiced by themselves and viewed by their families. They were so close
and intimately linked that Primus's mother, Mehitable Jacobs, said that “if either Addie
or Rebecca were a gent then they would marry.” Three months later, Addie wrote to
Rebecca informing her she would be happy to address her as “my husband.” In addition
to calling her “my husband,” Addie affectionately called Rebecca “Stella” and signed her
own letters “Perthena.” While the letters suggest that Addie, at least, had other lovers of
both sexes, she reminded Rebecca in a letter, “No kisses is like yours” (quoted in
Hansen, pp. 153–182).
Addie Brown made her living by sewing, mending, and cleaning, and was employed at
various places, including Miss Porter's School in Farmington. In 1868 in New Haven,
Brown married Joseph Tines, a waiter on the Granite State, a steamship that traveled
from New York City to Hartford three times a week. They did not have any children. Two
years later, Brown died. Her death was recorded by Rebecca on Addie's last letter:
“Addie died at her residence Phila. 7, Jan 1870 at 11 o'clock am.” Addie Brown's
correspondence with Rebecca Primus is of historical significance on several counts: it is
a loving exchange between two African American women a domestic in New England
and an early Reconstruction educator, a rarely documented nineteenth-century samesex relationship. In addition, Brown's letters illustrate the vibrant social fabric of
Hartford's African American community and churches, while Primus's letters document
the struggles of a young teacher starting a school all alone in the South in the years
immediately following the Civil War.
Further Reading

Beeching, Barbara J. “The Primus Papers: An Introduction to Hartford's Nineteenth Century Black
Community.” Master's thesis, Trinity College, Hartford, CT, 1995.

Griffin, Farah Jasmine. Beloved Sisters and Loving Friends: Letters from Rebecca Primus of Royal
Maryland, and Addie Brown of Hartford Connecticut 1854–1868 (1999).

Hansen, Karen. “‘No Kisses Is Like Youres,’: An Erotic Friendship between Two African-American
Women during the Mid-Nineteenth Century,” Gender and History 7, no. 2 (1995):153–182.
© Oxford University Press 2012. All Rights Reserved
Citation:
Ky, Jennifer. "Primus, Nelson A.." African American National Biography, edited by Ed.
Henry Louis Gates Jr.. , edited by and Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham. . Oxford African
American Studies Center, http://www.oxfordaasc.com/article/opr/t0001/e4691
(accessed Mon Oct 12 17:10:39 EDT 2015).
Primus, Nelson A.
By: Jennifer Ky
(24 March 1843–29 May 1916),
painter, was born in Hartford, Connecticut, the son of Holdridge Primus, a porter at a
grocery store and an active member of the Talcott Street Congregational Church, and
Mehitable Jacobs, a dressmaker. The Primuses, one of the few African American
families in the state to own property, consisted of the parents, Nelson, and his siblings
Rebecca, Isabelle, and Henrietta, and their home was located on Wadsworth Street in
Hartford. During Reconstruction, Rebecca Primus was active in efforts to educate the
southern freedmen. Nelson Primus discovered his artistic talent at an early age. At the
Hartford County Fair, he was recognized twice: in 1851, when he was only nine years
old, he received a diploma for his sketches, and in 1859 he received a medal for his
drawings.
Nelson Primus wanted to pursue that talent by painting professionally. His father likely
thought that this would be a financially insecure career and was probably the person
who suggested that Nelson seek a more practical career by apprenticing with George
Francis, the owner of a local carriage making business. In 1858, Primus followed his
father's advice and learned to design and paint the decorations on sleighs and
carriages. Fortunately, Francis supported Primus's dream to be a painter and gave him
lessons in painting landscapes and portraits. From 1860 to 1862, Primus also received
informal art instruction from Elizabeth Gilbert Jerone, a local artist.
On 15 June 1864, Primus married Amoretta Prince and later that year moved to Boston,
Massachusetts, where he hoped to be the pupil of Edward Mitchell Bannister, an older,
established black artist. In April 1865, Primus wrote of his satisfaction with Bannister,
but this was short lived. According to Primus, Bannister soon realized how talented his
pupil was and began to see him as competition. In July he wrote, “Mr. Banister i think is
a little Jealous of me he says that i have got good tast in art. But does not try very hard
to get me any work. The Colored people here think he could get me work if he was a
mind to …” Primus felt betrayed by his mentor, but this conflict proves how difficult it
was to make a living as an artist. If Primus's speculations were true, Bannister probably
didn't personally dislike Primus; he just couldn't afford to share any of his precious
clients.
From the beginning of his painting career, Primus's dream was to study abroad in
Europe where, as other artists found, he might have faced less racial discrimination
than in the United States. Primus didn't have the money nor did he make the
connections necessary to ensure his admission into an art institute, but his dream was
not an impossible one. Indeed, Charles Ethan Porter, also an African American painter
from Hartford, had a background similar to Primus, but fulfilled Primus's dream. The
famous writer Mark Twain, a Hartford resident, noticed Porter's paintings and wrote him
recommendations that resulted in his enrollment of several art institutes, including one
in Paris. Eventually, Porter was able to support himself with his art as his sole source of
income. Porter was not necessarily a better painter than Primus; he was simply luckier.
He attracted the attention of an influential white man and that was what a nineteenth
century black painter needed to do to succeed. However, as time passed and people
forgot about Twain's recommendations, Porter faced many of the same problems as
Primus; few would buy paintings from a black man. In addition to the problems that all
painters face, Primus faced racial discrimination while struggling to support himself and
his family.
In 1865, Primus's daughter Leila was born. But with such an unsteady and
unpredictable income, Primus had to send her to Hartford to stay with his family from
March to September of 1867. This ensured her comfort and it allowed his wife more
time to work outside the house. This desperate action was the result of a period of time
in which Primus tried to rely on his painting as his family's sole source of income. When
he failed to meet his goal, he was forced to borrow money from his parents in January
of 1867 and again later that year. But he never stopped painting. That year, he
painted Sunset, Italian Scene, Boston Boot Blacks, and the Madonna, and sent them to
Hartford for sale. On 3 October 1867, the Hartford Daily Courant, now known as
the Hartford Courant, praised four of Primus's paintings. But, dejected by his financial
failure, he wrote to his family, “I am wirking at my old traid again carriage painting. … i
have given portrait painting up for a while.” This hiatus lasted for a few months before
he wrote a letter describing his latest project.
In 1872, Primus moved his family to Somerville, Massachusetts, where he remained
listed in the Boston city directory until 1889. On 18 July 1876 Primus's wife, Amoretta,
died. In 1886 Primus saw Christ Before Pilate, by the Hungarian painter Mihály
Munkácsy and was inspired to reproduce it. On 30 December 1888 Primus's copy
of Christ Before Pilate was on exhibition at Boston's Horticultural Hall when an
accidental fire spread through the building and destroyed the painting. Primus painted a
second copy and after Leila died in 1894, he toured the copy around the country with
Mary, his second wife. In 1896, he and his wife settled down in San Francisco,
California, where he found work at a delicatessen. On 29 May 1916, Primus died from
pulmonary tuberculosis at age seventy-four with laborer listed as the occupation on his
death certificate.
Primus never saved enough money to fulfill his dream to study abroad in Europe nor did
he ever manage to support his family with his painting career, but he never stopped
painting. Today he is remembered as a talented black painter. That was the core of his
being, and that was how he identified himself, but the tragedy of his life, and of many
African Americans seeking a career in the arts in the nineteenth century, was that he
was never given the chance to fulfill his potential.
Further Reading
Nelson Primus's correspondence is located in the Primus Family Papers, Connecticut Historical Society,
Manuscript Collection, Hartford, Connecticut.

“Citizens of Color, 1863–1890: The ‘Talented Tenth,’” The Hartford Black History Project. Web site
available at http://www.hartford-hwp.com/HBHP/exhibit/05/3.html

Beeching, Barbara J. “Reading the Numbers: Census Returns as Key to the Nineteenth Century
Black Community in Hartford, Connecticut,” Connecticut History 44.2 pp. 224–247 (2005).

–––. “The Primus Papers: An Introduction to Hartford's Nineteenth Century Black Community,”
dissertation, Trinity College, 1995.

Holland, Juanita Marie. “Co-workers in the Kingdom of Culture: Edward Mitchell Bannister and the
Boston Community of African-American artists, 1848–1901,” dissertation, Columbia University,
1998.

“Work of a Bungler,” New York Times p. 1, 31 (December 1888).
© Oxford University Press 2012. All Rights Reserved
Citation:
Hollister, Dominick. "Jack, Andrew." African American National Biography, edited by Ed.
Henry Louis Gates Jr.. , edited by and Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham. . Oxford African
American Studies Center, http://www.oxfordaasc.com/article/opr/t0001/e6018
(accessed Mon Oct 12 17:14:33 EDT 2015).
Jack, Andrew
By: Dominick Hollister
(30 June 1756–23 Jan. 1846),
may have been born in Connecticut to a New Haven plantation owner. The names of his
parents and owner during this time are unknown.
Andrew Jack first appears in public records when he enlisted to fight in the
Revolutionary War on 18 April 1777 in New Haven. Jack served from 1777 until he was
discharged in 1782, but was only paid until 1781. He was first assigned to the
Leavenworth Company which was part of the Sixth Connecticut Regiment. He served in
this Company from 1777 to 1778. He was then assigned to the Barker Company, also a
part of the Sixth Connecticut Regiment as a private. There were seventy-eight other
men in his company, only three of whom were African Americans. Jack served in the
Barker Company from 1778 to 1780. During Jack's time with the Sixth Regiment of the
Connecticut Line, these troops were involved with building and repairing forts and
buildings, and assisting other regiments when they were under attack and in need.
African Americans in the regiment, like Jack, could have been working as carpenters,
blacksmiths, and wheelwrights.
Between October 1780 and November 1782, Jack served in the Second Company,
Fourth Connecticut Regiment, also known as the Company of Colored Troops led by
Captain David Humphrey. This Company was made up of forty-eight privates, corporals,
and sergeants. These African Americans mainly fought in this war under the promise of
freedom if the rebels won; however very few were granted this prize. Two State of
Connecticut–issued Notes, numbered 3387 and 3388, were issued to Andrew Jack for
£9.8.3 each; the latter note is signed “Andw. Jack” on the reverse side, indicating Jack
was probably literate.
After the war, it is unclear what happened to Jack; it is possible he was freed by his
owner in return for his military service although very few slave owners held to their
promise of freedom. Like many Connecticut residents, Jack emigrated to Ohio after the
war. A monument to Andrew Jack, Revolutionary War veteran, was erected in the
Springfield Friends Cemetery in Clinton County Ohio, indicating that he died at the age
of ninety years, seven months, having served in the war under General Washington.
Further Reading

Connecticut Historical Society. Collections Volume VII: Revolution Rolls and Lists 1775–
1783 (1901), pp. 71–72.

Dobyns, L. http://www.history.org: The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation official history and
citizenship website.

Johnston, H. The Record of Connecticut Men in the Military and Naval Service During the War of the
Revolution, 1775–1783(1997), p. 339.

“Muster Roll of African Americans in 6CR.” The 6th Connecticut Regiment.
http://www.6thconnecticut.org/?page_id=897.
© Oxford University Press 2012. All Rights Reserved
Citation:
Ganoe, Jacob. "Saunders, Judson L.." African American National Biography, edited by
Ed. Henry Louis Gates Jr.. , edited by and Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham. . Oxford
African American Studies Center, http://www.oxfordaasc.com/article/opr/t0001/e6032
(accessed Mon Oct 12 17:15:51 EDT 2015).
Saunders, Judson L.
By: Jacob Ganoe
(15 Feb. 1863–4 Apr. 1950),
janitor, Connecticut National Guard lieutenant, and founder of the first African American
Boy Scout troop in Connecticut, was born in Nova Scotia, Canada. Little is known about
his parents except that he was the second of four children. He had one older and
younger sister, Alice and Martha, respectively, and one younger brother, Stephen. In
the year 1887, at the age of ten, he, his mother, and his three siblings emigrated to
America on the steamer Linda, arriving at Boston Harbor. His mother's name is listed as
S. Saunders on the ship's manifest, so her real name is unknown. There is no record of
his father. Saunders moved to New Haven, Connecticut, in 1892.
Saunders met his wife, Linna, who was born in January 1865, in Pennsylvania; the two
married in 1890. They then settled down at 28 Hazel Street in New Haven. Their
daughter Alma was born in June 1891, followed by their first son, Judson, in July 1899,
and son Earnest in 1901. It appears that Earnest died sometime after 1910 since he
does not appear in subsequent records. Saunders became naturalized as a US citizen
on 14 March 1906.
In 1907 Saunders joined the military, enlisting in the infantry of the Connecticut State
Militia, where he served for ten years in the 1st Separate Company, achieving the rank
of second lieutenant. At the same time, he worked as a caretaker and a carpet layer in
New Haven.
In the 1908 Congregational Year Book, which gives information about each employed
member of the church, including salaries and invested funds, Saunders was listed as
the Sunday school superintendent of the Dixwell Avenue Congregational Church, the
nation's oldest African American Congregational United Church of Christ congregation.
As the Sunday school superintendent, Saunders was in charge of running youth
classes, making sure they occurred on a regular basis, and proceeded smoothly.
Saunders also helped found the first African American Boy Scout troop sponsored by
this church in about 1914, as reported by the New Haven Register. Saunders served as
the head scoutmaster with the Reverend Edward F. Goin as the assistant scout master.
This may have been because Saunders's son Judson, who was thirteen, wished to join
a scout troop, although this cannot be confirmed.
According to the 1920 census, the Saunders household was composed of Saunders
himself, his wife, Linna, and his daughter, Alma. In 1942 the couple still resided in New
Haven. Saunders's wife predeceased him in 1944; he died on 5 April 1950 in New
Haven at the age of eighty-seven, survived by his daughter Alma and his son, Judson.
Further Reading

“New Haven CT: Jan 7.” The New York Age, 8 Jan. 1914.

The Year Book of the Congregational Christian Churches of the United States of America 1908,
Issued Under the Sanction of the National Council of the Congregational Churches of the United
States,” vol. 30 (1908).
© Oxford University Press 2012. All Rights Reserved
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AANB Research Project 2014 - 2015
To access the AANB and AASC, visit www.oxfordaasc.com and enter the following information:
Username: tvara
Password: oxford (Both are case-sensitive)
For an A on this project, you will select one Connecticut-related person from the following list
and make sure this person is not yet listed in the AANB! Then locate as much information
about him or her as possible. In the course of your research, you may also get great advice
from librarians who may have other great people to investigate. Remember that all these
people must be (unfortunately for them) quite dead. You may use any resources available to
you, but the best will be:
*Bibliomation, the Connecticut Public Library system
*Connecticut Historical Society
*Connecticut State Library
*University of Hartford Library
*Local Historical Societies
*Your local library
*UConn Library: Proquest Historical Newspaper - http://rdl.lib.uconn.edu/databases/1479 to
find older issues of American Periodical Series (APS), the Hartford Courant, the New York
Amsterdam News, and the New York Times. The Hartford Courant (1764 - 1922)
You will print or copy any primary or secondary resources you find (letters, newspaper
accounts, obituaries, census records, etc.) and construct a narrative of this person’s life, based
on a model of someone in the same field from the AANB. Follow the AANB article format. If
your work is original and well-researched and beautifully written, we will submit it to the AANB
for consideration; if it is accepted, you will be a published researcher and author! Names with
asterisks are particularly challenging!
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Jane Bolin- first African American woman graduate of Yale Law School (1931)
Ulysses Byrd Jr.- Waterbury’s first black firefighter- died 8/22/2012
Joseph Charles Jenkins- born in Detroit 1914-first AA US Coast Guard officer
Harry Clarence Russell- born 1918 in Louisville, KY- second AA US Coast Guard officer
Javis Leon Wright, Jr.- member of US Coast Guard class of 1955
6. John E. Rogers- local Connecticut historian of AA history
7. Peleg Nott- Revolutionary War vet and black Governor
8. Frederick Seymour- civil rights activist
9. Margaret Dwen Andrews-accomplished educator
10. Connie Nappier-architect in Hartford 1963
11. Father of Cortlandt Van Rensselaer Creed- Yale caterer from 1822-1865
12. Curtis Patton-one of Yale’s first AA professors
13. James William Morris- first AA student to graduate from Yale Divinity School in 1874
14. Solomon Melvin Coles- second AA student to graduate from Yale Divinity School in 1875
15. Edwin Archer Randolph- Yale Law School first AA graduate in 1880
16. Warner Thornton McGuinn- Yale Law class of 1887-supported by Mark Twain
17. Judson Lossen Saunders- began first black Boy Scout Troop 24 in 1913 in New Haven
18. George Biddle Kelley- Civil Engineer, graduate of Cornell University
19. Arthur Verdi Bates- born 1/16/1916 in New Haven, Lincoln University class of 1937
20. George Paul Macy Clarke- born 3/1/1910-firefighter, Lincoln University class of
1895/1898, born Aiken, SC
21. George Edward Cunningham Sr.-born New Haven 8/1909; Lincoln University class of
1933- editor and housing manager
22. Raymond O. Hatcher-born Waterbury, CT- Lincoln University class of 1934-non profit
work
23. John Wesley Lancaster Jr.- born 8/29/1901 Bridgeport- activist- Lincoln University class
of 1926
24. Prince George- from Branford, CT. 2nd Co. 4th Regiment CT Line- Rev. War soldier
25. Andrew Abner- served CT Line until 1780- Rev. War soldier
26. Thomas Freeman- Rev. War soldier- from Saybrook- served 1775 and 1777-1782
27. Andrew Jack- served in CT Line 1777-1782- Rev. War soldier
28. Jack Little- Rev. War soldier- 4th Regiment of the CT Line
29. Cesar Sipio or Sippio- Rev. War soldier- 1st Regiment of CT Line
30. Ned Freedom- served in David Humphrey’s All Black Company- Rev. War soldier
31. George Aschley Thompson- from Greenwich, CT- graduated from Howard University
Pharmaceutic College in 1915
32. Joseph Harold Ray- from Newtown, CT- at Howard University Dental College in 1915
33. Samuel Gary Foeman- from New Haven, CT- at Howard University Dental College in
1915
34. Ernest Colbjornsen Schuster- from New Haven, CT- at Howard University Dental College
in 1915
35. James Oscar Lee- born 4/13/1910- minister- Lincoln University class of 1931
36. Cedric Earl Mills- born 12/17/1903 Hartford- minister- Lincoln University class of 1926
37. Robert Andrew Moody- born in New Brunswick, NJ 7/26/1898- clergyman- Lincoln
University class of 1920/1924- minister of Shiloh Baptist Church
38. Stanley Sargeant- born New Haven, CT 5/21/1921- Lincoln University class of 1943- US
Army and medical school
39. William Sailsman Weller- minister- born in Jamaica 8/4/1878- Lincoln University class of
1907
40. Edythe J. Gaines- born Edythe Pauline Jones- 1922-2006
41. John Dow: first AA superintendent of schools
42. John Daniels: New Haven’s first AA mayor
43. Rev. Oscar Leiber Mitchell, first Hartford ordained Episcopal priest, 1894
44. John Stewart Jr: Hartford Fire Chief 1980-1992
45. George Goodman: Editor of The Hartford Chronicle
46. Leo Clark Sr.: founded a home and window cleaning business in 1930s
47. Simon Manus from Farmington (1820-1904) (File from African-American Resources at the
Connecticut Historical Society:Brown, Matthew. "Grave of Simon Manus Lies alone in Hillside
Cemetery." Farmington News clipping, 2 August 1990, 1 page. (Jean Fisher African-American
Collection). African-American Simon Manus (1820-1904) of the Twenty-Ninth Colored
Connecticut Regiment of Infantry was with the Union Army when it marched on Richmond in
October 1864. He later settled in Farmington, CT, living in the former West District Schoolhouse.
The American Legion places a flag by his grave each year.
48. Jacob Eaton (File from African-American Resources at the Connecticut Historical Society:
Jacob Eaton Buckingham, William Alfred. Letter, 26 December 1863, to Major C. W. Foster. LS,
1 page. (William A. Buckingham Papers) Requests that Jacob Eaton be considered for a position
as field officer in the colored regiment being formed in Connecticut (i.e., the Twenty-Ninth
Colored Connecticut Regiment of Infantry). Records show that Rev. Jacob Eaton of Meriden died
in the service in March 1865 while chaplain of the Seventh Connecticut Regiment of Infantry.)
49. Joseph Cross. (File from African-American Resources at the Connecticut Historical Society:
Joseph Cross , Joseph O. Letters, 1864-1865 to his wife, Abby. 10 ALsS. (Ms 74274)
On 10 December 1864, he writes from Chapin's Farm, VA, how difficult it was to break the news
to a fellow soldier of the death of two of his brothers. He adds that five soldiers from the FortyFirst Pennsylvania Black Regiment were shot that morning. Joseph Cross was an AfricanAmerican sergeant in Company H of the Twenty-Ninth Connecticut Black Regiment of Infantry.
He owned land in Griswold, CT.)
50. Benjamin Brown-public crier*
51. Louisa Brown-dressmaker*
52. Vernon Riddick, Jr., first black police chief in Waterbury, CT
53. Cicero Booker, Sr., first black police officer in Waterbury, CT, sworn in 10/4/1943, died
10/4/1986.
54. Edyth Gaines, Superintendent of Hartford Public Schools, 1975-1978
55. Sam Beamon*
56. James “Pops” Wyrick*-both Beamon and Wyrick took part in federal discrimination
lawsuits against the Waterbury Police Department.
57. E.C. Freeman-school teacher
58. Jeremiah Jacobs-cobbler/ shoemaker
59. Marcelino Manuel de Graca-Cape Verdean founder of the United House of Prayer 1919
60. Claude H. Ligon
61. Rachel Taylor Milton
62. M. Jane Taylor, née Mattie Jane
63. Storm DeLarverie died 2014 Dolphy, educator
64. John B. Stewart, Jr.
65. Herb Jeffries- cowboy crooner
66. William A. Davis died June 3, 2014 in Waterbury. New England’s #1 Gospel promoter.
67. Wayne Henderson, Founder of Jazz Crusaders
68. Basil A. Paterson, New York politics
69. W.V. Cordice, surgeon
70. Charles Atkinson
71. Walter “Doc” Herley
72. Salaria O’Reilly
73. W. Lincoln Hawkins
74. Foreststorn Chico Hamilton
75. Cedric Earl Mills
76. William Miles
77. Mary Goodman- established scholarships for black students at Yale Divinity School
78. George Williamson Crawford – first black Corporation Counsel for New Haven
79. George E. Smith- wealthy Hartford resident 1877-AME Zion Church
AANB Rubric
7. Found as much primary source material as possible:
8. Formatted essay in AANB style:
9. Further Reading included and correct:
10. Grammatically correct:
11. All primary documents attached:
12. Biography shows careful attention to detail:
Total:____
Tardiness deduction: 20 points per day
25
15
15
15
15
15
________
________
________
________
________
________