Thomas Wentworth Higginson
Thomas Wentworth Higginson (December 22, 1823May 9, 1911), who went by the name
Wentworth, was an American
Unitarian minister, author,
abolitionist, politician, and soldier. He was active in
abolitionism in the United States during the 1840s and 1850s, identifying himself with disunion and militant abolitionism. He was a member of the
Secret Six who supported
John Brown. During the
Civil War, he served as colonel of the
1st South Carolina Volunteers, the first federally authorized
black regiment, from 1862 to 1864. Following the war, he wrote about his experiences with
African-American soldiers and devoted much of the rest of his life to fighting for the rights of freed people, women, and other disfranchised peoples. He is also remembered as a mentor to poet
Emily Dickinson.
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