let me start with a lawyer named john mercer langston. he was the first dean of howard law school. he was also the most prominent african-american lawyer in the nineteenth century and he had a very unusual career so let me read a little bit. john langston is only faintly remembered today although some have tried to claim him as a model for the first african-american president. in the nineteenth century it was a different matter. langston was famous. langston was one of the leading public figures of his day. he rivaled frederick douglass for prominence in black politics and earned the trust of whites that would seem notable in almost any era of american history. who was langston? langston was born in 1829 in virginia and raised in ohio and graduated from oberlin college in an era when most americans didn't think plaques had basic citizenship rights. langston was also the son of all white slave owner and african-american woman who sent his sons to a high to get an education because they were not going to be educated in virginia. he was biracial but he was also in our language and afr