James Monroe Trotter

James Monroe Trotter
Born	February 7, 1842(1842-02-07) Gulfport, Mississippi
Died	February 26, 1892(1892-02-26) (aged 50)
Nationality	American
Occupation	U.S. Civil War Soldier, Music Historian, U.S. Postal Worker, U.S. Federal Government Official
Title	Recorder of Deeds, District of Columbia
Predecessor	Fredrick Douglass
Successor	Blanche Bruce
Children	William Monroe Trotter
Parents	Richard S. Trotter, Letitia

James Monroe Trotter (February 7, 1842 – February 26, 1892) was born into slavery in Grand Gulf, Mississippi to a slave named Letitia and her master Richard S. Trotter. Letitia, along with her two sons, James Monroe and Charles Trotter, escaped on the Underground Railroad to Cincinnati, Ohio. James attended the Gilmer School in that city.

He later received teacher education training at The Albany Academy in Athens County, Ohio. He used this training to teach in schools for colored persons in the Ohio counties of Pike and Muskingham, and in Ross County at Chillicothe. During his time in Chillicothe, he met his future wife, Virginia Isaacs. According to family tradition, she was a great-grand daughter of President Thomas Jefferson and Mary Hemings, an older half-sister of Sally Hemings.

During the American Civil War, Trotter traveled to Boston, Massachusetts where he enlisted in the Union Army, joining the 55th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry USCT, Company K, in June 1863. He quickly rose from the rank of Private to Sergeant, and was ultimately promoted to 2nd Lieutenant, the first man of color to achieve this rank up to that time.

Upon completing his military service, Trotter returned to Chillicothe, where he married Virginia Isaacs in 1868. The couple moved to Massachusetts, where Trotter became the first man of color to be employed by the United States Post Office (USPS) in Boston. They soon became the parents of three children; William Monroe Trotter became the renowned Boston newspaper editor and human rights activist. After years of service with the USPS, James Trotter found that he was not being promoted as were white co-workers of equal years of service. In an act of protest, he resigned rather than continue in an inferior position.

A multi-talented man, Trotter wrote a book entitled Music and Some Highly Musical People, published in 1880. The book is the first comprehensive study of music ever written in the United States. It is still used today by those interested in music history and tracing the origins of music, especially African-American music. It has been reissued at least two times. The last time was in 1981.

Another landmark accomplishment for him was his appointment by President Grover Cleveland to the office of Recorder of Deeds for the District of Columbia in 1887, the highest office to be held by a man of color at that time. Two other prominent men of color of that era, Fredrick Douglass (1881–1886) and Senator Blanche Kelso Bruce (1891–1893), also held that office.

The James M. Trotter Convention Center in Columbus, Mississippi was named in his honor.

References

• Trotter, James M., (1878) Music and Some Highly Musical People, Johnson Reprint Corp, 1981. ISBN 0384617204, ISBN 978-0384617209, ASIN: B00087QNHE; originally published by Charles T. Dillingham, New York, NY, 1881.

• Lewis, David Levering, (1994) W.E.B. Du Bois: Biography Of A Race, published by Owl Books.

Note

"James Monroe Trotter (1842–1892) was a prominent 19th-century civil rights advocate. He came to Boston to join the Massachusetts 54th* Regiment, the first African-American corps of soldiers in the Civil War. After the war, Trotter became the highest ranking African-American in the federal government in his position as Federal Recorder of Deeds. He was the father of civil-rights leader William Monroe Trotter."

The Bostonian Society, 2007

• *Note: Available military records indicate that Trotter mustered in to the Massachusetts 55th regiment in June 1863. Thus, the above reference issued by the Bostonian Society is apparently in error on that point.

External links

• The Boston Historical Society and Museum
• USCT – United States Colored Troops Home Page
• The Civil War In Southern Ohio
• Music and Some Highly Musical People at Project Gutenberg
• James M. Trotter Convention Center
• [1]

Persondata
Name	Trotter, James Monroe
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	February 7, 1842
Place of birth	Gulfport, Mississippi
Date of death	February 26, 1892
Place of death