author
Lafayette M. Hershaw
1863–1945
A sharp Black intellectual of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, he moved between journalism, law, and public service while writing forcefully about race, labor, and civil rights. His work offers a clear window into the debates that shaped African American political life in his era.
2 Audiobooks
Peonage
by Lafayette M. Hershaw
Papers of the American Negro Academy. (The American Negro Academy. Occasional Papers, No. 18-19.)
by Archibald Henry Grimké, John Wesley Cromwell, Lafayette M. Hershaw, William Pickens, Arthur Alfonso Schomburg, T. G. (Theophilus Gould) Steward
About the author
Born in Clay County, North Carolina, in 1863, Lafayette M. Hershaw became an important voice in Black public life during a period of profound change. He studied at Atlanta University and first made his mark in journalism, contributing to African American newspapers and helping shape political discussion in Atlanta before building a long career in Washington, D.C.
Hershaw worked as a lawyer and as a clerk and law examiner for the United States General Land Office. He was also active in leading Black intellectual circles in the capital, including the Bethel Literary and Historical Society, and he took part in the Niagara Movement, an early civil rights organization that helped lay the groundwork for the NAACP.
As a writer, Hershaw is especially remembered for thoughtful, direct work on racial oppression and labor abuses, including Peonage. He died in Washington, D.C., in 1945, leaving behind a career that linked public service, activism, and serious historical writing.