Benjamin Antony Boseman Jr. 

 

 

Benjamin Antony Boseman Jr. was born free in Troy, NY in 1839. During the years 1855 – 1857, Boseman spent his time in McGraw, NY at Central College. As a child, Boseman showed interest in becoming a physician. At age 16, he worked as an apprentice studying to be a physician for eight years.   With his experience, he went on to serve as a surgeon for the Union Army during the Civil War.  Boseman settled in Charleston, South Carolina where he started a family. He married and had 2 sons. While he settled in Charleston, he started a medical practice that was very sucessful. During Reconstruction, he was the only politician, black or white,  to ever be elected to 3 consecutive terms in the South Carolina House of Representative. In 1873, he was appointed by President Ulysses S. Grant as the first black postmaker of Charleston. At the young age of 41, Boseman died in 1881 in Charleston, SC.

 

Tunis G. Campbell Jr.

Tunis G. Campbell Jr. was born in Middlebrook, New Jersey in 1812. As a child Campbell attended an all-white Episcopal school in Babylon, Long Island. He was the only black student who attended the school. During this time, free African Americans were sent on missionary trips out of the country; however, Campbell was devoted to helping blacks in the United States and did not leave. Campbel worked as a  hotel steward in Boston and New York. In 1855-1857, Campbell spent time in McGraw, NY at New York Central College. In 1863, the United States Secretary of War commisioned Campbell to help displaced refugees after fighting in the Civil War.  While living in Georgia, Campbell was elected Senator sometime in the late 1960s. Campbell devoted his life and career to civil rights and helping blacks. Because of his passion, people found his actions and beliefs to be threatening. He was arrested in Darien, Georgia in 1876. Campbell spent a year locked up. When he was released, he immediately moved to Washington, DC to get away from all the conflict. That same year in 1877, Campbell and his family moved to Boston where he died in 1891.

 

Below is a link to a Digital Map that will allow you a visual of the places both Boseman and Campbell traveled throughout the course of their lives.

https://barbaramackey13.carto.com/builder/1f1aaeb5-0799-4ee8-9cc7-0bf770e2221a/layers

 

Post by Amorie Green and Barbara Mackey