The month of February is celebrated as Black History month, in which we recognize figures such as Martin Luther King, Maya Angelou and Rosa Parks. Beyond these well-known people, there are thousands more that go unrecognized, Martin Robison Delany being one of these many unnamed heroes.
Delany was born on May 6, 1812 Charlestown Virginia. At the time of his birth, he was not a slave. His father was a slave, as well as his ancestors before him. His mother, Pati wanted to give Delany and his four siblings a good education, despite the fact that they were African-Americans and vastly ridiculed for their skin color. As a result of her efforts, Pati was arrested, due to the fact that blacks were not allowed to be educated in Virginia, which was a slave state.
However, that did not discourage Delany and his siblings. Delany moved to Pittsburgh for school and work so that he could support his family. At 19, he went to the Bethel Church school for blacks and Jefferson College where he studied Latin, Greeks, Classics as well as some medicine.
In 1843, Delaney married Catherine Richards, and they went on to have 11 children. Later, he founded The Mystery, the first African-American newspaper published west of the Allegheny Mountains. This paper caught the attention of Frederick Douglass, who hired Delaney to write for his publication, The North Star.
To continue his education and further his interest in medicine, Delany went to Harvard Medical School in 1850, but was dismissed shortly after due to a few petitions signed by his White peers. Two years later, he published a book, titled “The Condition, Elevation, Emigration, and Destiny of the Colored People of the United States, Politically Considered”. In his book, he explored the idea that no one, not even abolitionists, would ever accept blacks as equal and therefore the only solution would be for all blacks to emigrate back to Africa. He then led an emigration commission to West Africa in the hopes of finding somewhere to found a new black nation.
Delaney returned to the United States in 1861, at the beginning to the civil war. He travelled across the country, recruiting thousands of men to form a union army. Following this, he met with President Abraham Lincoln, and at this meeting, Delaney became the first lin officer in U.S Army history and the highest ranking African-American up until that point. He then entered a field of politics until his death on January 24, 1885.