John Stewart Rock (October 13, 1825 – December 3, 1866) was an American teacher, doctor, dentist, lawyer and abolitionist, historically associated with the coining of the term "
black is beautiful
Black is beautiful is a cultural movement that was started in the United States in the 1960s by African Americans. It later spread beyond the United States, most prominently in the writings of the Black Consciousness Movement of Steve Biko in ...
" (thought to have originated from a speech he made in 1858, however historical records now indicate he never actually used the specific phrase on that day).
Rock was one of the first
African-American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...
men to earn a
medical degree
A medical degree is a professional degree admitted to those who have passed coursework in the fields of medicine and/or surgery from an accredited medical school. Obtaining a degree in medicine allows for the recipient to continue on into special ...
. In addition, he was the first black person to be
admitted to the bar
An admission to practice law is acquired when a lawyer receives a license to practice law. In jurisdictions with two types of lawyer, as with barristers and solicitors, barristers must gain admission to the bar whereas for solicitors there are dist ...
of the
Supreme Court of the United States.
Early life and education
John Stewart Rock was born to John and Maria (Willett) Rock, free African-American parents, on October 13, 1825, in
Salem, New Jersey
Salem is a city in Salem County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 U.S. Census, the city's population was 5,146, .
In Rock's formative years, it was relatively uncommon for white children to complete grammar school, and significantly rarer for black children. Rock's parents, however, encouraged their diligent son in his studies and, despite having little financial resources, provided for him to follow through with formal schooling. By the age of 19, Rock had received the necessary amount of education to take up a position as a teacher. He started out in 1844 in a one-room school in Salem, where he would continue to work for the next four years, garnering the attention and approval of veteran schoolteachers. Rock had an impressive work ethic, consistently holding class for six hours, conducting private tutoring sessions for two hours, and studying medicine under two white physicians, Dr. Shaw and Dr. Gibson,
who allowed him to study their textbooks and use their personal book collections for eight hours daily.
Medical students at the time commonly undertook apprenticeships with practicing doctors, as Rock did, as a means of gaining medical training. In 1848, Rock applied to medical school, but faced rejection on the basis of his race.
John Rock then decided to transfer into the field of dentistry and, after an 1849 apprenticeship with Dr. Harbert, a white dentist, opened a dental practice in
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...
in January 1850. Just one year later, he was rewarded with a silver medal for his expert work on a set of silver dentures that he crafted and later displayed.
After finally gaining admittance to medical school, Rock graduated from American Medical College in Philadelphia in 1852, becoming one of the first African Americans to attain a degree in medicine.
At the age of 27, he had established himself as a talented and well-respected teacher, dentist, and physician.
In 1853, Rock decided to change locations to
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
, which many at the time considered to be the most liberal city in the United States for African Americans. There he set up his own practice in dentistry and medicine. Many of his patients turned out to be ill fugitive slaves making their way through Boston on the
Underground Railroad
The Underground Railroad was a network of clandestine routes and safe houses established in the United States during the early- to mid-19th century. It was used by enslaved African Americans primarily to escape into free states and Canada. ...
, fleeing towards Canada. He also provided care to members of an integrated abolitionist organization called the
Boston Vigilance Committee
The Boston Vigilance Committee (1841–1861) was an abolitionist organization formed in Boston, Massachusetts, to protect escaped slaves from being kidnapped and returned to slavery in the South. The Committee aided hundreds of escapees, most ...
, which aimed to aid and protect fugitive slaves targeted by the
Fugitive Slave Law 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 cont ...
.
Rock was the second black to gain acceptance to the
Massachusetts Medical Society
The Massachusetts Medical Society (MMS) is the oldest continuously operating state medical association in the United States. Incorporated on November 1, 1781, by an act of the Massachusetts General Court, the MMS is a non-profit organization th ...
, sometime after the induction of
Dr. John De Grasse in 1854.
Abolitionist
Rock, a passionate
abolitionist
Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people.
The British ...
and
civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life o ...
leader, held a strong belief in the dignity and rights of all Americans. Like other abolitionists in the movement, such as
George T. Downing and
Robert Purvis
Robert Purvis (August 4, 1810 – April 15, 1898) was an American abolitionist in the United States. He was born in Charleston, South Carolina, and was likely educated at Amherst Academy, a secondary school in Amherst, Massachusetts. He ...
, Rock became a renowned public speaker and campaigned for equal rights. He was a part of the
National Equal Rights League
The National Equal Rights League (NERL) is the oldest nationwide human rights organization in the United States. It was founded in Syracuse, New York in 1864 dedicated to the liberation of black people in the United States. Its origins can be tr ...
with other famous abolitionists such as
Henry Highland Garnet
Henry Highland Garnet (December 23, 1815 – February 13, 1882) was an African-American abolitionist, minister, educator and orator. Having escaped as a child from slavery in Maryland with his family, he grew up in New York City. He was educat ...
,
Frederick Douglass
Frederick Douglass (born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, February 1817 or 1818 – February 20, 1895) was an American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. After escaping from slavery in Maryland, he became ...
, and
John Mercer Langston
John Mercer Langston (December 14, 1829 – November 15, 1897) was an American abolitionist, attorney, educator, activist, diplomat, and politician. He was the founding dean of the law school at Howard University and helped create the department ...
. Rock's speeches soon began to receive positive public reviews, which led him to travel throughout New England and, occasionally, westward. In 1855, Rock took part in the campaign responsible for the legal desegregation of Boston public schools.
[ Although he and other abolitionists were determined to see that equality for black Americans was achieved, there were several significant setbacks in the push for civil rights. The infamous ''Dred Scott'' decision was just one example of the rejection of this movement. Dred Scott, a slave, wanted to sue for his freedom, but on March 6, 1857, it was decided that the ]Missouri Compromise of 1820
The Missouri Compromise was a federal legislation of the United States that balanced desires of northern states to prevent expansion of slavery in the country with those of southern states to expand it. It admitted Missouri as a slave state and ...
was unconstitutional, and that African Americans were not intended to be citizens under the law. This established that Scott would not, in fact, receive his freedom. It was the verdict of this important court case that spurred Rock to continue in his pursuit as an abolitionist and later ignited his determination to start a new career. Rock is credited with coining the phrase "black is beautiful" during a speech he gave in Faneuil Hall
Faneuil Hall ( or ; previously ) is a marketplace and meeting hall located near the waterfront and today's Government Center, in Boston, Massachusetts. Opened in 1742, it was the site of several speeches by Samuel Adams, James Otis, and others ...
in March 1858 as a refutation of the Western idea that the physical features of African Americans were unattractive. However, research on Rock's speeches in the Black Abolitionist Digital Archive have shown that he in fact did not say the exact words "black is beautiful", but did speak of the beauty of black people, praising "the beautiful, rich color ... of the negro". Rock's polished speeches were printed in William Lloyd Garrison
William Lloyd Garrison (December , 1805 – May 24, 1879) was a prominent American Christian, abolitionist, journalist, suffragist, and social reformer. He is best known for his widely read antislavery newspaper '' The Liberator'', which he foun ...
's '' The Liberator'' as well as in general newspapers, promoting these central ideas.
Lawyer
Troubled by health-related problems, Rock applied for a United States passport
United States passports are passports issued to citizens and nationals of the United States of America. They are issued exclusively by the U.S. Department of State. Besides passports (in booklet form), limited-use passport cards are issue ...
to travel to Europe for his health, but Secretary of State Lewis Cass refused him one, as the United States Supreme Court had just declared in ''Dred Scott v. Sandford
''Dred Scott v. Sandford'', 60 U.S. (19 How.) 393 (1857), was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court that held the U.S. Constitution did not extend American citizenship to people of black African descent, enslaved or free; th ...
'' that a black man could not be a citizen of the United States. In spite of the 1856 law confining the authority to issue passports to the United States Secretary of State
The United States secretary of state is a member of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States and the head of the U.S. Department of State. The office holder is one of the highest ranking members of the president's Ca ...
, the Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts
The Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth is the Secretary of State (U.S. state government), principal public information officer of the Government of Massachusetts, government of the U.S. state of Massachusetts.
The Secretary of the Commo ...
issued Rock a passport describing him as a citizen of the commonwealth, and on the strength of this document he traveled to Europe."John Rock"
Northwestern California University School of Law. 2011. Retrieved August 30, 2017. Rock went to Paris to seek the medical treatment of two leading French surgeons, Auguste Nelaton and Alfred Armand Velpeau.
He returned to Boston in February 1859, and in 1860, under his doctors' stipulations to cut back on his workload, he gave up his medical and dental practices and began to study law. On September 14, 1861, T. K. Lothrop, a white lawyer, made the motion before Judge Russell to have Rock examined.
Rock passed and gained admittance to the
Massachusetts Bar. He then opened a private law office, through which he advocated even more diligently for the rights of African Americans. In 1862, he spoke at the Anti-Slavery Society in Boston, where he voiced his opposition to Lincoln's plan for the so-called "negro colonization" in Haiti and sided with Frederick Douglass on several issues.
Rock achieved much success as a lawyer, but did not feel that he had truly gained "success", given the lack of freedom that blacks continued to experience. Rock also stated sadly that an educated negro feels the oppression much more than does an uneducated one.
It was thoughts similar to this one, in addition to the lack of executive action for African Americans, that led him to strive to attain the next level of achievement.
On February 1, 1865, the day after Congress approved the
Thirteenth Amendment ending slavery,
Charles Sumner
Charles Sumner (January 6, 1811March 11, 1874) was an American statesman and United States Senator from Massachusetts. As an academic lawyer and a powerful orator, Sumner was the leader of the anti-slavery forces in the state and a leader of th ...
introduced a motion that made Rock the first black attorney to be admitted to the bar of the
Supreme Court of the United States. Rock became the first black person to be received on the floor of the
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...
.
The day was cause for much celebration.
Death
On April 9, 1866, the
Civil Rights Act of 1866 was passed which enforced the 13th Amendment. Rock enjoyed this honor for less than a year. He became ill with the common cold that weakened his already failing health, and limited his ability to commute efficiently. On December 3, 1866, John S. Rock died in his mother's home in Boston of tuberculosis at the age of 41. He was laid to rest in
Everett's Woodlawn Cemetery, and was buried with full Masonic honors.
His admittance into the Supreme Court is recorded on his tombstone.
References
External links
Speeches by John Rockat University of Detroit Mercy - Black Abolitionist Archive
John S. Rock- Civil War Trust
Before the 14th: John Rock and the birth of birthright citizenship-
Institute for Justice
The Institute for Justice (IJ) is a libertarian non-profit public interest law firm in the United States. It has litigated ten cases before the United States Supreme Court dealing with eminent domain, interstate commerce, public financing for ...
Podcast on John Rock and the 14th Amendment
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rock, John
1825 births
1866 deaths
African-American abolitionists
Abolitionists from Boston
African-American lawyers
African-American physicians
American dentists
People from Salem, New Jersey
Colored Conventions people
Massachusetts lawyers
19th-century deaths from tuberculosis
Physicians from Massachusetts
Tuberculosis deaths in Massachusetts
19th-century American lawyers
19th-century dentists