W. H. C. Stephenson

W. H. C. Stephenson
Born	c1825 Washington, D. C., U.S.
Died	April 6, 1899 Omaha, Nebraska, U.S.
Occupation	Physician, preacher
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Jane, Mary

W. H. C. Stephenson (c1825 - April 6, 1899) was a doctor, preacher, and civil rights activist in Virginia City, Nevada and Omaha, Nebraska. He was probably the first black doctor in Nevada and worked for the rights of blacks in that city. He was noted for his efforts in support of black suffrage in Nevada at the passing of the Fifteenth Amendment in 1870. He helped found the first Baptist church in Virginia City. He moved to Omaha in the late 1870s and continued his medical, religious, and civil rights work. He founded another Baptist church in Omaha, and was a prominent Republican and activist in the city.

Stephenson was born a slave in Washington, D.C. in about 1825. and trained at one of the Eclectic Medical Institutes in Philadelphia. His medical career was very successful, and his writing frequently appeared in medical journals endorsing botanical remedies such as Sanmetto and Ponca Compound

In 1861 and 1862 he lived in Sacramento and in 1863 he lived in Marysville, California before moving to the area. In Virginia City he was married to a woman named Jane and had a daughter, Carrie. He moved to Omaha in the late 1870s and there was married to a woman named Mary. He may have also spent some time in Rhode Island before moving west.

In 1865, he helped to organize and was elected chairman of the Nevada Executive Committee to press for legal equality, uniting blacks in Virginia City, Silver City, and Gold Hill. One goal of this group was black inclusion in civic affairs, involving everything from parades to juries. He pushed for the application of the 1866 Civil Rights Act to Nevada, for access to public schools (which were not integrated in Virginia City until after 1872). He also helped to establish the Lincoln Union Club to unify political activity in the state. April 26, 1863 he organized the first Baptist church on the Comstock, "First Baptist (Colored) Church".

At the January 1, 1866 celebration of the anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, he said, "It is for colored men to ... Fearlessly meet the opponents of justice... Let colored men contend for 'Equality before the Law.' Nothing short of civil and political rights". He was elected president of the Convention of Colored Citizens of the State of Nevada with trasurer Moses Elliot and Secretary Joseph Price. He was an agent for the Western black paper, the Elevator, published by Philip Alexander Bell

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