Not everyone was pleased with
Langston’s political ascent. Te prior clerk was angered over his loss to a black man. He began a campaign of agitation against the town by collabo- rating with slave catchers in the cap- ture of fugitive slaves. In September of 1858, the slave catchers met success with the abduction of John Price, a fugitive slave from Kentucky. Tey proceeded with him to Wellington, a village about 10 miles south of Oberlin, awaiting the next train to Columbus, Ohio, at the Wadsworth House hotel. Te people of Oberlin wasted little
E
LANGSTON’S HOUSE IN OBERLIN, OHIO, IS A NATIONAL HISTORIC LANDMARK.
26
himself on the podium at the American Anti-Slavery Society’s convention in New York City, open- ing with words that seem appropri- ate today in an age when the Bill of Rights is being undermined by national security to some: “Some great man has remarked
that a nation may lose its liberty in a day, and be a century in finding it out… Tere is not, within the length and breadth of this entire country… a solitary man or woman who is in the possession of his or her full share of civil, religious and political liberty….” (151) A contemporary described his
presence on the podium as “uncom- monly graceful” with “very clear and distinct” enunciation and a “strong, musical voice” that was “bold and energetic.” Abolitionist William C. Nell called Langston “a walking, talking encyclopedia of the colored American’s position, aspirations, and capacities.” 6
So he became known as Langston, “the Ohio orator.” Tat fall Langston passed the bar
exam and married Oberlin student Caroline Wall with whom he would have five children. A native of North Carolina, she too was the offspring of an enslaved mother and her master, and had been emancipated by her father when he died in 1845. Te couple first settled at a home-
stead in Brownhelm, where Langston began his law practice. A clever lawyer, he did not discriminate when it came to clients, and much of his early business came from defending liquor vendors, whose licenses had been affected by changes in the local laws due to temperance agitation. Ironically, Langston was temperate but didn’t let that interfere with this business opportunity. Following a move back to Oberlin,
he was elected to the city council and to town clerk, and he managed the town school system. As town clerk, he was responsible for legal and financial matters. Te latter involved funds put aside to aid fugitive slaves.7
DIVERSITY & THE BAR® JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2014
time in tracking them down. Acting as spokesman for the armed posse, num- bering as many as 500, was Charles Langston. Tey surrounded the hotel and Charles demanded Price’s release. When the slave catchers refused, they took Price by force. Tirty-seven of the Oberlin-Wellington rescuers were prosecuted and refused bail, spending 83 days in jail awaiting their trial. One of two men convicted, Charles spent 20 days in jail. Charges against the others were dropped. As the militancy of the abolition
movement grew, Langston was among those advocating ending slavery by force. In fact, Langston recruited two men from Oberlin to join John Brown’s assault at Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. Sheridan Leary and John Copeland Jr., one of the 37 Oberlin- Wellington rescuers, perished. Leary died at Harpers Ferry and Copeland was hanged two weeks after Brown.
GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL With the impending Civil War, Langston started to recruit black troops before they were approved to join the military. George Stearns, one of John Brown’s chief financial sup- porters, chose Langston to recruit men in the west for the Massachusetts 54th regiment. Finally, in 1863, President Abraham Lincoln approved their use. Because of his reputation as a compel-
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