Benjamin Antony Boseman, Jr.

Before College:  

Benjamin Anthony Boseman Jr. was an African American doctor and politician that was prominent in the South during the period of Reconstruction. He played a prominent role in breaking boundaries for African Americans that struggled to obtain occupations like physicians, and who struggled to actively participate in anything relating to politics. Boseman Jr. was born a free man in New York City on July 30th, 1840. His father, Benjamin Boseman Sr., was from Florida, but moved to NYC and married a woman named Annaretta, a native New Yorker. A census from 1850 shows that Boseman Jr. was the oldest of five children, consisting of two girls and three boys.  

The family would move to Troy, NY; a community that William Hine remarks on in his journal as a hub for the growing abolitionist movement in the North. Boseman Sr. worked in the restaurant business as a steward on a steamboat, and he also was a merchant for the US army selling provisions. The latter made the family able to live a comfortable lifestyle, despite living in a low-middle class neighborhood from the prices of the other residence in the census. Boseman Jr. also worked alongside his brother as a clerk for a local store from the 1859 city directories. The Bosemans were also members of the presbyterian church, which Boseman Jr. remained a member of throughout his life.