The expression "Black is Beautiful" has for quite some time been related with the civil rights and Black power movements, however it has it's roots traced back to the ancient times. John Stewart Rock, a pioneer and speaker in the years leading up to and amid the Civil War, Rock was one of the first African-American men to earn a medical degree.
Also, he was the first black person to be admitted to the bar of the Supreme Court of the United States. One of America's first black doctors and legal counselors and a committed supporter of civil rights and self change, he left a mark on the world as the first Black man to practice before the U.S. supreme Court. John Stewart Rock was the person who instituted the expression "Black is Beautiful" in one of the speeches he made in 1858 as an abolitionist.
Rock was born in October 13, 1825 in Salem, New Jersey to free parents. School was an extravagance for both whites and Blacks, however the Rock family revitalized around their child, his parents supported him in his studies and notwithstanding having little as far as money is concern, they still saw him through school.
By the age of 19, Rock had gotten the essential measure of education to take up a position as an educator. He began to teach in 1844 in a one-room school in Salem, where he worked for four years, however Rock had more noteworthy plans and started studying medicine under the guidance of two white doctors.
John Stewart Rock's dential clinic
Medical school acknowledgment ended up being a test because of his race, yet the American Medical College in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania allowed him to study there. In the wake of graduating in 1852, Rock moved to Boston to open a training and teached in a night school for African-Americans. An abolitionist gathering, Vigilance Committee, procured Rock to treat escaped slaves and served in as their educator.
The abolitionist movement delivered numerous fine speakers and Rock was of that longstanding convention. Rock traveled across New England as a major aspect of the National Equal Rights League that considered Frederick Douglass as a member. In 1855, Rock joined an effort in Boston to integrate state funded schools. In his speeches and compositions, Rock spoke of the "intrinsic beauty" of Black individuals and was a solid defender of Black self-improvement and strengthening.
In the late 1850's, Rock's health started to blur and he sailed to France to get better medical care. He was encouraged to resign from speaking and travel, and despite the fact that he cut back his medicinal practice and dental practice, he studied law.
In 1861, he was one of the first African Americans admitted to the Massachusetts Bar; in September of that year, he was selected a Justice of the Peace for Boston and Suffolk County, Massachusetts. By then the nation was at war, and all through the contention Rock was an enthusiastic advocate for nullification of slavery.
The day John Stewart Rock was admitted into the United State supreme court
Rock fell sick with the common cold in 1866 after a few health mishaps and died in December at 41 years old. On Rock's tombstone, the record of his induction to the Supreme Court is noted.
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REFERENCES
https://blackthen.com/john-stewart-rock-october-13-1825-december-3-1866-was-an-american-teacher/
https://7stepstofreedom.wordpress.com/2011/07/28/john-stewart-rock/
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/12237238/john-stewart-rock
