Fredrick McGhee, a founding member of the Niagara Movement, was born into slavery in Mississippi in 1861. He was freed in 1864 as Union forces marched through the northeastern part of the state. McGhee’s parents helped make it possible for him to attend a United Presbyterian Church freemen’s school in Knoxville, Tennessee from which he graduated in 1877. McGhee moved to Chicago, Illinois in 1879, where he worked as a porter while studying for a law degree. Upon completing his law degree in 1885, McGhee quickly entered the upper echelons of black Chicago society. In 1889, McGhee relocated to St. Paul, Minnesota where he became the first African American lawyer in Minnesota. It was at this time that McGhee began to become disenchanted with the Republican Party, feeling that although most African Americans voted Republican in the late 19th century, the party did little to return the favor. In 1891, McGhee converted from Protestantism to Catholicism, attracted by St. Paul Archbishop John Ireland’s progressive policies towards race. While working as a criminal defense lawyer in St. Paul, McGhee became increasingly involved in civil rights activism. He participated in several of the Negro Catholic Congresses of the early 1890s, where he … Continue reading Fredrick L. McGhee (1861-1912)