John Mercer Langston Admitted to Ohio Bar — First Black American Lawyer in the West

John Mercer Langston, born free in Virginia and educated at Oberlin College, was admitted to the Ohio bar in 1855 — one of the first Black men admitted to a state bar in American history. That same year he was elected town clerk of Brownhelm, Ohio, becoming the first Black American elected to public office in the US. He later founded the Howard University Law School (1869) and was elected to Congress from Virginia (1888).