BLACK SOCIAL HISTORY : AFRICAN AMERICAN JAMES MONROE TROTTER TEACHER, SOLDIER, EMPLOYEE OF U.S. POSTAL SERVIUCE, MUSIC HISTORIAN AND RECORDER OF DEEDS IN WASHINGTON DC. : GOES INTO THE " HALL OF BLACK MUSIC"

                BLACK             SOCIAL                HISTORY                                                                                                                                                                James Monroe Trotter  February 7, 1842 – February 26, 1892  was an American teacher, soldier, an employee of the U.S. Postal Service, a music historian, and Recorder of Deeds in Washington, DC. Born into slavery in Mississippi, he and his brother were taken as children by their mother Letitia to Cincinnati, Ohio. He attended school there and became a teacher.
During the American Civil War, Trotter enlisted in the 55th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry USCT, and was quickly promoted; he was the first man of color to be promoted to the rank of lieutenant in the US Army. After the war, he married and moved with his wife to Boston. He was the first man of color hired by the US Postal Service there and worked with them for many years. He wrote a history of music in the United States which is still in print. In 1886 he was appointed as Recorder of Deeds in Washington, DC.

Early life and education

James Monroe Trotter was born on February 7, 1842, in the hamlet of Grand Gulf, Mississippi, located twenty-five miles south of Vicksburg in Claiborne County, Mississippi (although some sources give Trotter’s date of birth as November 8, 1842). James was born into slavery to his enslaved mother Letitia and her master Richard S. Trotter. After Richard Trotter married in 1854, he sent Letitia and the children of their union — James and two younger daughters — to Cincinnati, where they lived free. Young James attended the Gilmore School, a famous institution for freed slaves founded by Methodist clergyman Hiram S. Gilmore. There he studied music with William F. Colburn. His musical training served him well later on. In Cincinnati, James helped to support the family by working as a hotel bellboy and a riverboat cabin boy on a Cincinnati-to-New Orleans run. About 1856 the family moved on to nearby Hamilton. Trotter attended Albany Manual Labor University, located near Athens in Athens County, Ohio.

Career

Trotter taught in schools for colored students in the Ohio counties of Pike, Muskingum, and Ross, where he taught at the city of Chillicothe. During his time in Chillicothe, which had become a center of free blacks and abolitionists, he met his future wife, Virginia Isaacs, who was born free in 1842. She was the daughter of Tucker and Ann-Elizabeth Fossett Isaacs from Charlottesville, Virginia. Ann-Elizabeth was born into slavery at Monticello: her father was Joseph Fossett, a grandson of Elizabeth Hemings. She gained her freedom when purchased by her father Joseph Fossett in 1837. All had been held by Thomas Jefferson before his death.^[1]

American Civil War

During the American Civil War, Trotter traveled to Boston, Massachusetts where he enlisted in the Union Army, joining the 55th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry USCT, Company K, in June 1863. He was 21 and educated, and quickly rose from the rank of Private to Sergeant. He was ultimately promoted to 2nd Lieutenant, the first man of color to achieve this rank.

Marriage and family

Upon completing his military service, Trotter returned to Chillicothe, where he married Virginia Isaacs in 1868. The couple moved to Boston, Massachusetts, as did Virginia's sister Mary Elizabeth and her husband William H. Dupree, also a veteran lieutenant. The Trotters soon became the parents of three children; their son William Monroe Trotter became the renowned Boston newspaper editor and human rights activist.

Career

In Boston, Trotter became the first man of color to be employed by the United States Post Office (USPS) there. After years of service with the USPS, James Trotter found that he was not being promoted as were white co-workers of equal years of service. In an act of protest, he resigned rather than continue in an inferior position.
A multi-talented man, Trotter wrote a book entitled Music and Some Highly Musical People, published in 1878. It is the first comprehensive study of music ever written in the United States. It is still used today by those interested in music history and tracing the origins of music, especially African-American music. It has been reissued at least two times, most recently in 1981.
He was appointed by President Grover Cleveland as Recorder of Deeds for the District of Columbia in 1887, one of the highest federal offices to be held by a man of color at that time. He was preceded in that position by the activist Fredrick Douglass (1881–1886). After him, US Senator Blanche Kelso Bruce (1891–1893), was appointed to the office.

Legacy and honors

The James M. Trotter Convention Center in Columbus, Mississippi was named in his honor.