Martin Delany (1812-1885)
Chambersburg, Franklin County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
Delany was an influential abolitionist, civil rights activist, Army officer, and prominent physician. The son of an enslaved father and free mother received his education in Chambersburg. He went on to publish an anti-slavery newspaper, "The Mystery." He worked along with Frederick Douglass to champion freedom and later became the first commissioned African American officer in the United States Army.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
Educated in Chambersburg as the son of a free mother and an enslaved father, Martin Delany became one of the most formidable Black voices of his century. He published the antislavery newspaper The Mystery, joined Frederick Douglass in the abolitionist cause, and in 1865 became the first African American commissioned as a field officer in the United States Army. Physician, editor, and activist, he pressed for freedom on many fronts.
Why it matters
Delany's life traced the long arc from abolitionism to Black military service in the Civil War, marking milestones in the African American struggle for full citizenship.
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Related people
- · Martin Delany
- · Frederick Douglass
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Lincoln Cemetery
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Frederick Douglass and John Brown
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In the tense summer of 1859, two of the era's towering opponents of slavery met secretly at a stone quarry outside Chambersburg. John Brown laid out his scheme to seize the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry and spark an armed uprising against slavery; Frederick Douglass, hearing the plan, judged it doomed and would not join. Weeks later Brown's October raid failed exactly as Douglass feared, and Brown was captured and hanged that December — an act that inflamed the nation on the eve of civil war.
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