Lafayette M. Hershaw

author

Lafayette M. Hershaw

1863–1945

A journalist, lawyer, and civil-rights advocate, he moved through many of the key Black intellectual and political circles of his time. He is especially remembered for his role in the Niagara Movement and for helping build institutions for African American legal education in Washington, D.C.

2 Audiobooks

Papers of the American Negro Academy. (The American Negro Academy. Occasional Papers, No. 18-19.)

Papers of the American Negro Academy. (The American Negro Academy. Occasional Papers, No. 18-19.)

by John Wesley Cromwell, Archibald Henry Grimké, Lafayette M. Hershaw, William Pickens, Arthur Alfonso Schomburg, T. G. (Theophilus Gould) Steward

Peonage

Peonage

by Lafayette M. Hershaw

About the author

Born on May 10, 1863, Lafayette M. Hershaw became known as a journalist, lawyer, and federal employee who worked as a clerk and law examiner for the U.S. General Land Office. His career placed him at the intersection of public service, Black journalism, and early 20th-century civil-rights activism.

He was part of the Niagara Movement, the influential organization that helped lay the groundwork for a more forceful national fight for equal rights. Hershaw also wrote and spoke within a wider network of Black thinkers and reformers who challenged segregation and political exclusion.

Later in life, he was among the founders of the Robert H. Terrell Law School in Washington, D.C., where he also served as president. That work tied his name not only to journalism and advocacy, but also to the training of Black lawyers at a time when educational opportunities were still sharply restricted.