Thomas Wentworth Higginson

Thomas Wentworth Higginson
Member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives from the 1st Middlesex district
In office January 7, 1880 – January 4, 1882 Serving with George W. Park (1880) and Henry W. Muzzey (1881)
Preceded by	Edwin B. Hale
Succeeded by	Chester W. Kingsley
Personal details
Born	(1823-12-22)December 22, 1823 Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.
Died	May 9, 1911(1911-05-09) (aged 87) Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.
Political party	Free Soil (1850–51) Republican Democratic (1888)
Occupation	Minister, author, soldier
Signature

Thomas Wentworth Higginson (December 22, 1823 – May 9, 1911), who went by the name Wentworth,^[1]: 52 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.^[2] 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.