Henry Moxley (1809 – December 12, 1878) was an

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

businessman, religious leader and activist in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...

. He is known for his work to promote

school integration School integration in the United States is the process (also known as desegregation) of ending Race (human categorization), race-based Racial segregation in the United States, segregation within American public and private schools. School segreg ...

and the education of African-American children.

Biography

Born into slavery in Virginia in 1809, Moxley escaped and settled in Buffalo in 1832. He worked at various jobs before becoming a

barber A barber is a person whose occupation is mainly to cut, dress, groom, style and shave men's and boys' hair or beards. A barber's place of work is known as a "barbershop" or a "barber's". Barbershops are also places of social interaction and publi ...

who opened his own shop in 1839. Moxley was a deacon of the A.M.E. Zion church and was a principal organizer of the 1843

National Convention of Colored Men The Colored Conventions Movement, or Black Conventions Movement, was a series of national, regional, and state conventions held irregularly during the decades preceding and following the American Civil War. The delegates who attended these convent ...

that was held in Buffalo. It was reported in the Buffalo Republic newspaper that on October 3, 1850, Henry Moxley was in attendance and elected vice president, along with others, during a meeting of colored citizens in which resolutions were passed against the

Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 The Fugitive Slave Act or Fugitive Slave Law was passed by the United States Congress on September 18, 1850, as part of the Compromise of 1850 between Southern interests in slavery and Northern Free-Soilers. The Act was one of the most co ...

. In June 1867 Moxley, as part of a group of parents, argued before the School Committee of the Common Council regarding the segregated and then called "African school" on Vine Alley (present day William Street from Broadway to Michigan Avenue). It was their contention that the school was both poorly equipped and constructed along with having a location that caused long travel times for children who didn't live nearby. Because of these factors the parents felt this violated their rights under the Fourteenth Amendment. Moxley's children were expelled from school following an unsuccessful attempt by him and other African-American families to have their children not segregated in a separate building by attempting to enroll them in two neighborhood schools. When this proved unsuccessful Moxley and fellow African-American parents then filed suit against the school superintendent, along with the School Committee of the Common Council, with violating the

Civil Rights Act of 1866 The Civil Rights Act of 1866 (, enacted April 9, 1866, reenacted 1870) was the first United States federal law to define citizenship and affirm that all citizens are equally protected by the law. It was mainly intended, in the wake of the Amer ...

. The lawsuit was thrown out in 1868 and Moxley was ordered to pay court costs of $192 ($3,088.55 in 2015). Henry Moxley died on December 12, 1878, and was buried at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Buffalo. The Buffalo school system became integrated in 1881 which then allowed African-American students to attend the schools in their neighborhoods.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Moxley, Henry 1809 births 1878 deaths African-American abolitionists 19th-century American slaves Businesspeople from Buffalo, New York African-American history in Buffalo, New York African Americans in New York (state) History of Buffalo, New York Activists from New York (state) 19th-century American businesspeople