Edwin R. Overall
Edwin R. Overall | |
|---|---|
Phototype from the Progress, June 21, 1890 | |
| Born | August 25, 1835 |
| Died | July 31, 1901 (aged 65) Omaha, Nebraska, U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | Abolitionist civil rights activist mail carrier politician |
| Political party | Republican, Populist |
| Spouses | Mary L. Blackburn
(m. 1859, died)Mary E. Washington (m. 1887) |
| Children | 7 |
Edwin R. Overall aka Edwin R. Williams (August 25, 1835 – July 31, 1901) was an abolitionist, civil rights activist, civil servant, and politician in Chicago and Omaha. In the 1850s and 1860s, he was involved in abolition and Underground Railroad activities headed at Chicago's Quinn Chapel AME Church. During the U. S. Civil War, he recruited blacks in Chicago to join the Union Army. After the war, he moved to Omaha, where he was involved in the founding of the National Afro-American League and a local branch of the same. He was the first black in Nebraska to be nominated to the state legislature in 1890. He lost the election, but in 1892, his friend Matthew O. Ricketts became the first African-American elected to the Nebraska legislature. He was also a leader in Omaha organized labor.