Robert James Harlan

Robert James Harlan
Sketch from The Cincinnati Enquirer, September 22, 1897
Born	(1816-12-12)December 12, 1816 Mecklenburg County, Virginia, U.S.
Died	September 21, 1897(1897-09-21) (aged 80) Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.
Occupation	horse racer, gambler, entrepreneur, civil rights activist, civil servant, and politician
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Josephine Floyd
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Robert James Harlan (December 12, 1816 - September 21, 1897) was a civil rights activist and politician in Cincinnati, Ohio in the 1870s-1890s. He was born a slave but was allowed free movement and employment on the plantation of Kentucky politician James Harlan, who raised him and may have been his father or half-brother. He became interested in horse racing as a young man and moved to California during the 1849 Gold Rush where he was very successful. In 1859 he moved to England to import racehorses from America and race them in England. He returned to the United States in 1869 during reconstruction. He became friends with Ulysses S. Grant and became involved in Republican politics. For the rest of his life, he was involved in city, state, and national African-American civil rights and political movements. In 1870 he became colonel of the Second Ohio Militia Battalion, a black state militia battalion in Cincinnati. In 1886, he became a member of the Ohio House of Representatives.

Robert James Harlan was born on December 12, 1816 probably in Mecklenburg County, Virginia. His father was the slave owner of his mother, Mary Harlan, and himself. His mother was also of mixed-race, and Robert was not easily identifiable as black. Early in his life, perhaps at the age of eight, or three Robert and his mother were sent to Cincinnati. The trip was made on foot, before the advent of railroad connections, and when they reached Danville, Kentucky, they received word that Robert's father had died and they were seized as parts of his property to be sold. Robert was purchased by James Harlan of Danville and his mother was sold South. James Harlan worked in dry goods, and became a lawyer and politician, serving in the U.S. House of Representatives from Kentucky from 1835 to 1839. His son, John Marshall Harlan, born in 1833, served as a US Supreme Court Justice from 1877 to 1911 and was known as the "Great Dissenter" for his support of civil rights against the segregationist majority court. The role of Robert Harlan in John Marshall's ideas is discussed in detail in Gordon (2000). It was then that Robert took the name Harlan.