\n\t\t\t\t\t\tA historical marker was unveiled Friday in Downtown Pittsburgh to honor George B. Vashon, a 19th-century abolitionist, educator, lawyer and writer, at the site of his family\u2019s home and business.”I\u2019m excited that the marker that we are going to unveil today will for all time recognize their contributions,” said Vashon\u2019s great-great-grandson, Paul Thornell.Vashon was a trailblazer in the 1800s, becoming Oberlin College\u2019s first Black graduate and valedictorian, as well as the first Black lawyer in New York after being denied the chance to take the bar exam in Pennsylvania due to his race. He later returned to Pittsburgh to lead the city\u2019s public schools and Avery College.”It\u2019s some stories that people don\u2019t get to see, and now they are going to see it,” Mayor Corey O\u2019Connor said.Looking for more news in your area | Subscribe to the WTAE YouTube ChannelVashon\u2019s father, John B. Vashon, also played a significant role in advancing opportunities for his son and others.”John B. Vashon, a veteran of the War of 1812, opened up the first city public bathhouse, and he also had that and a barbershop. During the day, he catered to white and Black customers, and during the night, there were slaves coming through as it was a stop on the Underground Railroad,” Thornell said.The Vashon family hopes the marker will inspire curiosity and dialogue.”I hope the marker prompts people to ask questions not just about George B. Vashon, but maybe about where they came from,” Thornell said.The marker is located at the corner of Third Avenue and Market Street in Downtown Pittsburgh.Download the WTAE app to stay connected with breaking news. Sign up for our email newsletters to get breaking news in your inbox.\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tPITTSBURGH \u2014 \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
A historical marker was unveiled Friday in Downtown Pittsburgh to honor George B. Vashon, a 19th-century abolitionist, educator, lawyer and writer, at the site of his family\u2019s home and business.<\/p>\n
“I\u2019m excited that the marker that we are going to unveil today will for all time recognize their contributions,” said Vashon\u2019s great-great-grandson, Paul Thornell.<\/p>\n
Vashon was a trailblazer in the 1800s, becoming Oberlin College\u2019s first Black graduate and valedictorian, as well as the first Black lawyer in New York after being denied the chance to take the bar exam in Pennsylvania due to his race. He later returned to Pittsburgh to lead the city\u2019s public schools and Avery College.<\/p>\n
“It\u2019s some stories that people don\u2019t get to see, and now they are going to see it,” Mayor Corey O\u2019Connor said.<\/p>\n
Looking for more news in your area | Subscribe to the WTAE YouTube Channel<\/a><\/p>\n Vashon\u2019s father, John B. Vashon, also played a significant role in advancing opportunities for his son and others.<\/p>\n “John B. Vashon, a veteran of the War of 1812, opened up the first city public bathhouse, and he also had that and a barbershop. During the day, he catered to white and Black customers, and during the night, there were slaves coming through as it was a stop on the Underground Railroad,” Thornell said.<\/p>\n The Vashon family hopes the marker will inspire curiosity and dialogue.<\/p>\n “I hope the marker prompts people to ask questions not just about George B. Vashon, but maybe about where they came from,” Thornell said.<\/p>\n The marker is located at the corner of Third Avenue and Market Street in Downtown Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n Download the WTAE app<\/a> to stay connected with breaking news. Sign up for our email newsletters<\/a> to get breaking news in your inbox.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A historical marker was unveiled Friday in Downtown Pittsburgh to honor George B. Vashon, a 19th-century abolitionist, educator,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":229242,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[4623,99306,1510,99305,96688,99307,71284,86,99304,3430,2092,11718,51880,523,73,75,74,20316,96687],"class_list":["post-229241","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-downtown-pittsburgh","tag-educator","tag-family","tag-first-black-graduate","tag-george-b-vashon","tag-great-great-grandson","tag-historical-marker","tag-home","tag-john-b-vashon","tag-lawyer","tag-more-news","tag-other","tag-paul-thornell","tag-people","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news","tag-public-school","tag-third-avenue"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229241","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=229241"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229241\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/229242"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=229241"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=229241"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=229241"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}