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Tue, 05.08.1866

J. Frank Wheaton, Minnesota Lawyer born

John Wheaton

*John Frank Wheaton was born on this date in 1866. He was a Black politician and lawyer.

He was born in Hagerstown, Maryland, where his father claimed to be the first Black man to vote in that state. Wheaton was educated at Stover College in Harpers Ferry, Va., and Howard University. He moved to Minneapolis in 1890, living at 1011 East Twenty-Eighth Street. He enrolled in college and became the first Black to graduate from the University of Minnesota Law School there. Among his many positions were a clerk in Congress, clerk in the state legislature, and clerk of municipal court.

In 1896, Wheaton was elected a member of the Minnesota delegation to the Republican Convention in St. Louis. Wheaton was the first Black man elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives in 1898 from a predominantly immigrant district. He supported American Civil Rights and lobbied for the commissioning of Black officers during the Spanish American War. John Wheaton died in 1938.

To Become a Political Scientist
To Become a Lawyer

Reference:

LRL.MN.gov

MNopedia.org

Minnesota Historical Society
345 W. Kellogg Blvd.
Saint Paul, MN 55102-1906

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Power Equality And we're out to get it I know some of you ain't wit'it This party started right in '66 With a pro-word black radical mix Then at the hour of twelve Some force... PARTY FOR YOUR RIGHT TO FIGHT by Public Enemy (Ridenhour/Shocklee/Sadler).
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