James Henry Ingraham
NationalityAmerican
OccupationCivil rights leader
Known forLeading black soldiers in the American Civil War and participating in the Louisiana Constitutional Convention

James Henry Ingraham was an African American who served as an officer in the American Civil War, state legislator, and a leader of the civil rights movement in Louisiana. He was born into slavery and gained his freedom before the war.[1]

Military service

Ingraham joined the Louisiana Native Guards, a Union Army regiment composed of free blacks and former slaves. He commanded the 1st Battalion of the 1st Regiment of the Native Guards, which fought in the Siege of Port Hudson in 1863.[1][2]

Civil rights activism

After the war, Ingraham became a prominent civil rights activist in Louisiana. He was president of the Convention of Colored People of Louisiana, which met in January 1865 to demand equal rights and suffrage for black citizens.[3][4] He also attended the National Negro Convention in Syracuse, New York, in October 1864, where he represented Louisiana.[5][6]

Ingraham lived in New Orleans, where he helped establish Central Congregational United Church in Christ on Bienville Street, one of the first black churches in the city.[7][8] He also served as president of the Louisiana Equal Rights League, an organization that advocated for the civil and political rights of black Louisianans.[9]

In 1867, Ingraham was elected as a delegate to the Louisiana Constitutional Convention, which was convened to draft a new constitution for the state under the Reconstruction policy of Radical Congress.[10] He was one of the 49 black delegates out of the total 98, and he signed the constitution that was adopted in 1868. The constitution granted universal male suffrage, abolished property qualifications for office, established a public school system, and prohibited racial discrimination in public accommodations.[11][1]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 Rodrigue, J.C. (2023). Freedom's Crescent: The Civil War and the Destruction of Slavery in the Lower Mississippi Valley. Cambridge Studies on the American South. Cambridge University Press. p. 364. ISBN 978-1-108-33579-9. Retrieved 10 November 2023.
  2. ↑ Wilson, Joseph T. (1890). The Black Phalanx: A History of the Negro Soldiers of the United States in the Wars of 1775-1812, 1861-'65. American Publishing Company – via Google Books.
  3. ↑ "State Convention of the Colored People of Louisiana, January 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, and 14th, 1865 · Colored Conventions Project Digital Records". Colored Conventions Project Digital Records. 10 November 2023. Retrieved 10 November 2023.
  4. ↑ Clark, E.S. (2016). A Luminous Brotherhood: Afro-Creole Spiritualism in Nineteenth-Century New Orleans. University of North Carolina Press. p. 225. ISBN 978-1-4696-2879-0. Retrieved 10 November 2023.
  5. ↑ "Nau Center for Civil War History, U.Va". Nau Center for Civil War History, U.Va. 6 July 2020. Retrieved 10 November 2023.
  6. ↑ https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/rbc/rbaapc/20100/20100.pdf
  7. ↑ http://www.louisianaweekly.com/remembering-new-orleans-first-freedom-fighters/
  8. ↑ http://www.louisianaweekly.com/congregants-of-merge-churches-who-came-together-after-katrina-in-dispute-over-property-rights/
  9. ↑ Foner, E. (1993). Freedom's Lawmakers: A Directory of Black Officeholders During Reconstruction. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-507406-2. Retrieved 10 November 2023.
  10. ↑ Vincent, C. (2011). Black Legislators in Louisiana during Reconstruction. Southern Illinois University Press. p. 121. ISBN 978-0-8093-8581-2. Retrieved 10 November 2023.
  11. ↑ Condition of Affairs in Louisiana: Message from the President of the United States, in Answer to a Resolution of the House, of December 16 Lase, Relative to the Condition of Affairs in Louisiana. Ex. Doc. 1873. p. 35. Retrieved 10 November 2023.
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