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John Rock (Abolitionist)

 

 
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John Rock (Abolitionist)
 
 
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John Rock (October 13, 1825–December 3, 1866; also John Sweat or John Swett Rock) was an American teacher, doctor, dentist, lawyer and abolitionist who originated the notion of "black is beautiful
Black is beautiful

Black is beautiful is a cultural movement which began in the United States of America, beginning in the 1960s. It later spread to much of the Black world, most prominently in the writings of the Black Consciousness Movement of Steve Biko in South Africa....
." Rock was one of the first black men to earn a medical degree
Medical degree

Medical degree is a...
. In addition, he was the first black person to be admitted to the bar
Admission to the bar

Admission to practice law, or being licensed to practice law, as a lawyer is a widely varied process across the world. Common to all the jurisdictions are requirements of age, competence, honesty and sometimes citizenship....
 of the Supreme Court of the United States
Supreme Court of the United States

The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest judicial body in the United States, and leads the federal United States federal courts. It consists of the Chief Justice of the United States and eight Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, who are nominated by the President of the United States and confirmed with th...
.

S. Rock was born to free African-American parents in Salem, New Jersey
Salem, New Jersey

Salem is a City in Salem County, New Jersey, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2000 Census, the city population was 5,857. It is the county seat of Salem County....
.






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John Rock (October 13, 1825–December 3, 1866; also John Sweat or John Swett Rock) was an American teacher, doctor, dentist, lawyer and abolitionist who originated the notion of "black is beautiful
Black is beautiful

Black is beautiful is a cultural movement which began in the United States of America, beginning in the 1960s. It later spread to much of the Black world, most prominently in the writings of the Black Consciousness Movement of Steve Biko in South Africa....
." Rock was one of the first black men to earn a medical degree
Medical degree

Medical degree is a...
. In addition, he was the first black person to be admitted to the bar
Admission to the bar

Admission to practice law, or being licensed to practice law, as a lawyer is a widely varied process across the world. Common to all the jurisdictions are requirements of age, competence, honesty and sometimes citizenship....
 of the Supreme Court of the United States
Supreme Court of the United States

The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest judicial body in the United States, and leads the federal United States federal courts. It consists of the Chief Justice of the United States and eight Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, who are nominated by the President of the United States and confirmed with th...
.

Early life and education

John S. Rock was born to free African-American parents in Salem, New Jersey
Salem, New Jersey

Salem is a City in Salem County, New Jersey, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2000 Census, the city population was 5,857. It is the county seat of Salem County....
. Not much is known of his childhood. He taught in schools in New Jersey from 1844 to 1848. While teaching, he studied medicine. He apprenticed to two white doctors based in Salem: Dr. Shaw and Dr. Gibson; studying with practicing physicians was a common way to gain medical training. Rock also sought entrance into medical school in 1848. He transferred into the field of dentistry and opened a dental practice in 1850. Finally gaining admittance to medical school, Rock graduated from American Medical College in Philadelphia in 1852. At the age of 27, he was a teacher, dentist and physician.

Careers

Rock was a passionate abolitionist and civil rights
Civil rights

Civil and political rights are a class of rights ensuring things such as the protection of peoples' physical integrity; procedural fairness in law; protection from discrimination based on sexism, religious intolerance, Racism, Homophobia, etc; individual freedom of freedom of belief, freedom of speech, freedom of association, and freedom...
 leader and held a strong belief in the dignity and rights of all Americans. In 1853, Rock decided that Boston's liberal environment would better suit him. While practicing medicine and dentistry, he lectured for anti-slavery and temperance
Temperance movement

A temperance movement attempts to reduce the amount of alcohol consumed within a community or society in general -- and even to prohibit its production and consumption entirely....
 groups. He became known as one of the most brilliant speakers in the anti-slavery movement. Rock is credited with coining the phrase "Black is beautiful
Black is beautiful

Black is beautiful is a cultural movement which began in the United States of America, beginning in the 1960s. It later spread to much of the Black world, most prominently in the writings of the Black Consciousness Movement of Steve Biko in South Africa....
" during a speech he gave in Faneuil Hall
Faneuil Hall

Faneuil Hall , located near the waterfront and today's Government Center, Boston, Massachusetts, in Boston, Massachusetts, Massachusetts, has been a marketplace and a meeting hall since 1742....
 as a refutation of the western idea that the natural features of African Americans are unattractive.

Troubled by health-related problems, Rock went to Paris
Paris

Paris is the Capital of France and the country's largest city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the ?le-de-France Regions of France ....
 to seek medical treatment and returned to Boston in February 1859. Doctors advised him to cut back on his work. In 1860, he gave up his medical and dental practices and began to study law. He gained admittance to the Massachusetts Bar in 1861 and opened his private law office. Rock became the first black to be received on the floor of the United States House of Representatives
United States House of Representatives

The United States House of Representatives, commonly referred to as "the House", is one of the bicameralism of the United States Congress; the other is the United States Senate....
.

February 1, 1865, the same day Congress approved the 13th Amendment ending slavery, Charles Sumner
Charles Sumner

Charles Sumner was an United States and statesman from Massachusetts. An academic lawyer and a powerful orator, Sumner was the leader of the antislavery forces in Massachusetts and a leader of the Radical Republican in the United States Senate during the American Civil War and Reconstruction era of the United States along with Thaddeus Stev...
 introduced a motion that made Rock the first black attorney to be admitted to argue in the Supreme Court of the United States. There was celebration the day he appeared before them.

Rock enjoyed this honor for less than a year. On December 3, 1866, John S. Rock died in his home of tuberculosis at the age of 41.

External links

  • , accessed 20 May 2008