On February 12, 1865, Henry Highland Garnet became the first Black person to speak in the U.S. Capitol when he delivered a memorial sermon on the abolition of slavery in the House of Representatives. Born into slavery in New Market, Maryland, in 1815, Garnet escaped with his family in 1824 and settled in New York. He later studied at the Oneida Theological Institute and became a prominent abolitionist, minister, and advocate for African American rights.
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