each other and even those who want to make you feel less, find a way to speak not at them with create a strong community. you start by owning your past, use your language, knowing you have a story and go forward in peace and injustice >> we are standing on the ground of the pennsylvania state capital in harrisburg. up next the civil rights leader who worked alongside frederick douglass, harriet tubman and john brown. learn about the impact of this lesser-known abolitionist william howard day. >> the book is called legendary locals of harrisburg. it is titled that because that is what it wanted to be called.

i was asked to write the book by arcadia publishing. you don't really turn down jobs. one reason i wrote the book, reached out for work i had previously done on individuals in the area in harrisburg, very important to the city, william howard day, people know of day's name today because there is a housing development in the northern part of the city named after him and there is a cemetery three miles outside of where we are standing now named william howard day cemetery. he is not buried there. he is buried in lincoln cemetery which is an all-black cemetery in pembrook which is just outside the city.

his actual burial site has been lost. there is a memorial marker in the middle of the cemetery when people walk in, one of the first things they see, this hero is buried in the cemetery and the way it is been treated in 130 years after the civil war, we don't know where the cemetery is buried. day was born in new york city in 1825 just as new york was abolishing slavery, he was born free. his first visit to harrisburg was in october 18, '65. the civil war has endeded and a few months before that union soldiers were honored in a grand review in washington dc. members were not invited to

that, colored troops came to harrisburg and the city had a grand review for black soldiers so pennsylvania had 8000 african-americans, made up 11 regiments of the union army. the civil rights movement taking place in the north was here the city so day was asked to come and help promote it. the grand review of the united states colored troops was held november 14, 1865. he was the keynote speaker. he made a name for himself as an intellect, foremost black

intellect of his era. he comes here to settle around 1871 where he spends the rest of his life. people that know of him other than developments in the cemetery know that he served 6 turns in harrisburg city school board so he is the first african-american who voted on the board, 1878, again in 1884, 87, 1890, in the 1890s he was elected president of the harrisburg city school board, this is a big deal because he's the first african american elected president of the school board anywhere in the country, he was the first to do that. he gets nationwide recognition for this. the thing about day, he has this unique rivalry with the foremost black abolitionist, frederick douglass. their stories are different.

day was born free, highly educated, given the best. doug a slave, ran away, wasn't formally educated, has success printing three different newspapers, he publishes a number of autobiographies. he never wrote his memoirs, he died trying to write some, those records have been lost. day gets himself involved in local government issues after the civil war, where frederick douglass stays on the national scene. perhaps abraham lincoln would have lived, douglas could have been elected to the united states senate. during reconstruction and after, that is how well known frederick

douglass is. civil rights circles, the antebellum period, people knew who they was, no secret to doing that, they had a feud going on, formally in 1849 in one of the national negro conventions, citizens conventions, the national endowment of colored people. trying to track all these names, in that effort, they were trying to launch a school for african-american children, somewhere in the mid-atlantic. they looked in erie, pennsylvania and the western part of the state of new york,

they never raised the money for it. the debate between douglas and davis at the time was who is going to be the teachers. day said we want black teachers. and a more radical position on abolitionist douglas was towing a fine line as a speaker for the anti-slavery society so day have a falling out. they respected and liked one another and advocated a certain side of the political issue but usually on opposite sides. day continued to stay in touch

during reconstruction after reconstruction, we know of douglas today. and douglas has publication still around today. douglas had successful newspapers. douglas is situated in rochester, an eastern media outlet.

and the anti-slavery presence, and by african-americans in the west, there wasn't enough readership, and enough subscribers because he was outdone by the frederick douglass paper. we didn't get media attention. it doesn't add and also struggles to launch successful publications. douglas has been sustained, and they don't know the name, and it is