206:. He was in a group that formed the Colored Monitor Union Club on April 4, 1865, a group advocating for suffrage that voted in the elections on May 25. Their votes were not counted. He was elected to serve on a committee of eight that drafted the "Address from the Colored Citizens of Norfolk, Virginia, to the People of the United States" in June 1865. The address advocated for equality of Black people with white and particularly in favor of equal suffrage. It warned that former slaveowners would deprive freed slaves of their rights, which they were willing to work hard to secure. It also proposed land associations to allow African-Americans to purchase land.
33:
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Thorpe thought Wilson's coverage of the first two wars had "nothing new", but the later ones used credible sources but suffered from excessive quotation (around half of the book) and numerous grammatical mistakes. It also lacked an index. The public positively received it, and the work was lauded as
196:
Though Wilson was permanently disabled after his injury in the Battle of
Olustee, his attempts to receive a pension, which began as early as November 1864 and continued for the next 25 years were unsuccessful into the 1880s. He married Elizabeth Hattie Smith on March 19, 1868; the couple had three
165:, Chile, in 1862, and quickly returned to the US. He spent three days serving in a regiment from New York in the war. He was forced to leave the regiment after they realized he was Black. So Wilson instead traveled to New Orleans, where his father had been sold, and enlisted in the
311:. Nineteen chapters and 528 pages long, the book also has biographical sketches of prominent figures. Just two of those chapters cover the American Revolution and War of 1812; the remaining seventeen focused on the Civil War. This book had three total editions published. The
291:, in an analysis of Wilson's work, described the book as "a very crude effort" and noted the difficulty of covering 3000 years of history in 242 pages. Also in 1882 Wilson was delegated with the task of writing a history of the regiment he served with by the
830:
271:. His house was attacked in 1871 for his activism. Wilson continued to advocate vocally for the rights of Black people, speaking and publishing widely. He criticized the
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sought to make the book a success, with a door-to-door campaign, subscription sales, agent selling, and widely advertising. Their efforts were successful; the educator
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255:
describes as a "radical voice", being elected to the
Norfolk City Council in 1870 and unsuccessfully running for Congress six years later. He campaigned for
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146:. He may have been enslaved at birth; his mother, Louisa Wilson, was likely free and his father, Bristow, enslaved. He was later described as "
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According to his writings, Wilson was out of the nation on a whaling ship for what was to be three years. He learnt of the outbreak of the
115:
114: – September 25, 1891) was an American journalist, politician, and author. He served in several regiments, including the
363:, the book was the "most comprehensive study of African American military service" for at least a generation after its publication.
244:
127:
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in 1882, charting Black history from 1481 BC, which he identified as the year of an exodus, to 1875 AD. The historian
177:, at one point hospitalized and was eventually honorably discharged. After moving back to Massachusetts, Wilson enlisted in the
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sold well and has been described as the "most comprehensive study of
African American military service" of the era.
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In early 1865 he moved back to
Norfolk and initially found work in a supply store before taking editorship of
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had received little critical attention in the modern era; Wilson himself has often been "overshadowed" by
785:
701:
Parfait, Claire (September 13, 2016). ""The
Grandest Book Ever Written": Advertising Joseph T. Wilson's
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790:
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Wilson died on
September 25, 1891. Despite its early success and influence, Varon wrote in 2019 that
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217:
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228:, gauging and inspecting customs, and at one point was colonel aide-de-camp to the commander of the
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wrote three years later that sales "surpass that of any other work written by an Afro-American."
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Following the end of the Civil War, Wilson embarked on research into Black history. He published
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150:". He left Norfolk after turning in a fugitive put his safety in danger and attended schools in
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122:. After the war's end, he was the publisher of several Reconstruction-era publications and a
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editor when a white mob destroyed its press in 1866. He then left the region to settle in
705:(1888)". In Parfait, Claire; Dantec-Lowry, Hélène Le; Bourhis-Mariotti, Claire (eds.).
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wrote in 1944 that it had "shaped" his "historical consciousness" according to Varon.
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in
February 1864. In September 1864 he was involved in the attempted capture of
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Writing
History from the Margins: African Americans and the Quest for Freedom
224:
in 1867. In the 1870s he returned to
Norfolk and worked for a time for the
764:
130:, active on a state level. Wilson was also a successful author; his 1888
147:
299:, published in 1888 and covering the history of Black soldiers in the
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as a boat pilot. For a time after this Wilson was a member of the
169:, on September 30, 1862. As part of the regiment he fought in the
593:
Freedom's journey : African
American voices of the Civil War
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Like men of war : Black troops in the Civil War, 1862-1865
327:
upon his death. Nine years later the book was exhibited at the
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were enacted, he participated in many party events, with what
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To be free : pioneering studies in Afro-American history
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596:. Chicago : Lawrence Hill Books. pp. 335–337.
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Joseph T. Wilson was born in 1836 or January 1837 in
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deemed it a foundational text in its field in 1911.
683:
Civil War Writing: New Perspectives on Iconic Texts
680:". In Cushman, Stephen; Gallagher, Gary W. (eds.).
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590:(2004). ""Public Opinion" Joseph T. Wilson".
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232:. Returning to Petersburg, Wilson published
167:2nd Louisiana Native Guard Infantry Regiment
197:children but none survived past childhood.
18:American journalist, politician, and author
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851:19th-century American newspaper founders
816:1876 United States presidential electors
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295:. The work that emerged from this was
676:(March 6, 2019). "Joseph T. Wilson's
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285:Emancipation: Its Course and Progress
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634:. Edison, N.J. : Castle Books.
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179:54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment
116:54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment
620:. New York, Morrow. pp. 44–45.
826:Politicians from Norfolk, Virginia
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841:19th-century American politicians
658:. New York : Citadel Press.
836:19th-century American historians
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749:The Project Gutenberg EBook of
446:"Wilson, Joseph T. (1837–1890)"
821:Writers from Norfolk, Virginia
811:Editors of Virginia newspapers
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617:Black historians; a critique
614:(1971). "Joseph T. Wilson".
86:Activism, writing, lecturing
359:. According to the scholar
313:American Publishing Company
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357:George Washington Williams
301:American Revolutionary War
293:Grand Army of the Republic
230:Grand Army of the Republic
152:New Bedford, Massachusetts
733:. Blue & Grey Press.
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711:. Taylor & Francis.
226:Internal Revenue Service
161:when the ship docked in
173:. Wilson suffered from
329:Exposition Universelle
267:four years later as a
37:Wilson as depicted in
450:Encyclopedia Virginia
331:in Paris. Historians
234:The American Sentinel
796:Virginia Republicans
772:at Wikimedia Commons
347:Later life and death
269:presidential elector
263:and cast a vote for
222:The Union Republican
218:Petersburg, Virginia
171:Siege of Port Hudson
105:Joseph Thomas Wilson
806:Union Army soldiers
801:Radical Republicans
626:Trudeau, Noah Andre
520:, pp. 142–144.
508:, pp. 128–129.
317:Irvine Garland Penn
265:Rutherford B. Hayes
249:Reconstruction Acts
211:The True Southerner
203:The True Southerner
747:Wilson, Joseph T.
309:American Civil War
247:. After the 1867
193:' secret service.
159:American Civil War
120:American Civil War
70:September 25, 1891
768:Media related to
751:The Black Phalanx
740:978-1-55521-248-3
718:978-1-317-19961-8
693:978-0-8071-7101-1
678:The Black Phalanx
665:978-0-8065-1257-0
650:Aptheker, Herbert
641:978-0-7858-1476-4
603:978-1-56976-993-5
561:, pp. 44–45.
353:The Black Phalanx
341:Carter G. Woodson
337:John Edward Bruce
297:The Black Phalanx
209:Wilson was still
191:Army of the James
183:Battle of Olustee
144:Norfolk, Virginia
132:The Black Phalanx
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559:Thorpe 1971
542:Thorpe 1971
455:December 4,
325:magnum opus
305:War of 1812
187:Fort Fisher
112: 1837
78:J.T. Wilson
54: 1837
780:Categories
428:Varon 2019
367:References
163:Valparaíso
138:Biography
729:(1988).
652:(1991).
628:(2002).
259:in the
148:mulatto
124:radical
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41:(1888)
735:ISBN
713:ISBN
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660:ISBN
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598:ISBN
457:2021
335:and
323:his
236:and
67:Died
61:, US
47:Born
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