William Hannibal Thomas

The American Negro: What He Was, What He is and What He May Become (Dodo Press) William Hannibal Thomas

William Hannibal Thomas (1843-1935) was born in Pickaway County, Ohio to free black parents. In his childhood Thomas's family moved in search of economic advancement before returning to Ohio in 1857. As a teenager he performed manual labor, attended school briefly, and broke the color line by entering Otterbein University in 1859. He served as principal of Union Seminary Institute, a manual training school near Columbus, Ohio. After twenty-two months' service as a servant in two white Union regiments, in 1863 Thomas enlisted in Ohio's first all-black military unit, the 127th Ohio Volunteer Infantry. During the post-war decades he settled in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Georgia, South Carolina, and Massachusetts. Thomas is best known for The American Negro: What He Was, What He Is, and What He May Become (1901), a widely known book that accused black people, especially women and clergymen, of being immoral, irresponsible, and destined to fail.