"James Monroe Trotter" (February 7, 1842-February 26,1892)

The politician and author James Monroe Trotter was born in Grand Gulf, Mississippi to Letitia a slave, and Richard  S.Trotter, her owner. Around 1854 James sent Letitia and her children to the free city of Cincinnati, Ohio, where James attended the Gilmore School for former slaves.He continued his education in Hamilton and Athens, specializing in music and art, and he taught school in the area.During the Civil War James, enlisted as a private in the all-black 55th Massachusetts's Regiment.Initially the officers were white, he rose rapidly through the ranks;by April 1864 he was a second lieutenant. The U.S. War Department, however was slow to recognize the field commissions granted to James and several other black men, and he openly protested this discrimination.The North and the South,black Union soldiers insisted on the same recognition that their white counterparts received. To James and many of his fellow troops, the principle of racial justice was more important than immediate gratification; the two black regiments in Massachusetts went without pay for a full year before the U.S.  Congress approved equal compensation.After the war, James moved to Boston and was appointed as clerk in the U.S. Post Office.The Trotters intended to demonstrate that black people could achieve the highest standards set by white society; they settled in a white neighborhood and sent their children to white schools.At the same time,they remained deeply committed to their racial identity,and they associated with prominent black families steeped in the abolitionist tradition.In 1878 James realized his aims through the publication of Music and Some Highly Musical People, a pioneering tribute to African-American musical talent that employed a European model of artistic quality.The book sold more than seven thousands copies.James like most African Americans during this period,was a Republican. He had been dismayed, however, by the Republicans'withdrawl of federal troops from the South in 1877. Personal evidence of the party's indifference to racial justice came in 1882, when he himself was passed over for a promotion in favor of to racial justice came in 1882, when he himself was passed over for a promotion in favor of a white man. James resigned from the post office and broke openly with the Republican Party.He became active in Democratic Party Politics,campaigning for a successful gubernatorial candidate in 1883 and organizing a conference of black Democrats in Boston in 1886.Meanwhile James pursued a variety of employment strategies from musical promotion to real estate.His shift in political allegiances, brought unexpected rewards.In 1887 President Grover Cleveland nominated James as U.S. recorder of deeds, a position formerly held by Frederick Douglass. A U.S. Senate committee voted narrowly against confirmation, James appointment was approved by a majority in the full Senate, due largely to Republican support.He served the administration until 1889, when the Republicans were returned to the presidency.James died from the effects of tuberculosis.As a result of his lucrative recordership,he was able to leave substantial property to his family. His son, William Monroe,absorbed James Trotter's legacy of militancy and his commitment to integration and racial equality.