Also American
Struggle & ResistanceAchievement & Excellence

1877

Zoom out
Achievement · politics
Frederick Douglass Appointed U.S. Marshal for the District of Columbia

President Rutherford Hayes appointed Frederick Douglass as U.S. Marshal for the District of Columbia in 1877, making him the first African American to hold a presidentially appointed office confirmed by the Senate. The position had significant ceremonial and law-enforcement duties at the nation's capital.

Zoom in — months

January 1877
1 entry →
June 1877
1 entry →

Key events

  1. 1877
    Frederick Douglass Appointed U.S. Marshal for the District of Columbia

    President Rutherford Hayes appointed Frederick Douglass as U.S. Marshal for the District of Columbia in 1877, making him the first African American to hold a presidentially appointed office confirmed by the Senate. The position had significant ceremonial and law-enforcement duties at the nation's capital.

  2. June 14, 1877
    Henry Ossian Flipper Becomes First Black West Point Graduate

    Henry Ossian Flipper, born into slavery in Georgia, became the first African American to graduate from the United States Military Academy at West Point on June 14, 1877. Despite four years of social ostracism from white cadets who refused to speak to him, he persevered and was commissioned as a second lieutenant, going on to serve with the Buffalo Soldiers' 10th Cavalry.