John L. Waller

John L. Waller

John Lewis Waller (January 12, 1850 – 1907) was an African-American lawyer, politician, journalist, publisher, businessman, military leader, and diplomat whose rise culminated in his becoming the United States consul to Madagascar. He was the grandfather of Negro World editor, poet, composer, and lyricist Andy Razaf.

Waller was born to enslaved parents in New Madrid County, Missouri. At the end of the American Civil War, he moved with his family to a farm in Tama County, Iowa. Waller's formal education, begun in 1863, ended with his graduation from high school in Toledo, Iowa.

Political career

Waller entered politics while living in Iowa. While living in Cedar Rapids and working as a barber, he was permitted to use the law library of Judge N.M. Hubbard.

Waller passed the bar in October 1877. On May 1 of the next year, he moved to Topeka, Kansas, in response to "Pap" Singleton's call for African-Americans to colonize the state.

Publisher

On March 10, 1882, Waller founded the Western Recorder; the newspaper continued publication until 1885 in Lawrence, Kansas. In Topeka, Kansas, during February 1888, Waller and his cousin Anthony Morton established The American Citizen.

Consul to Madagascar

In 1888, Waller became the first black presidential elector, supporting the Republican ticket. He was charged with the responsibility to transport the results of the Kansan vote to Washington, D.C., that year.

After unsuccessfully campaigning to become the state auditor Kansas, Waller was appointed American consul in Madagascar in 1891. When his service as consul ended, the island's queen granted him a concession of 150,000 acres (610 km2) on the southern end of the island, lush with mahogany, ebony, rosewood, and rubber trees.[1] Waller developed the land into thriving production.

After France entered into a treaty with the Malagasy government, the French Resident objected to the granting of the concession without French permission. (The French may have believed that Waller's success in developing his concession infringed upon their efforts to colonize the island.) French authorities arrested Waller and accused him of having been a spy who provided military information to the Hovas in their attempts to maintain their country's monarchy and independence. Waller was court-martialed and sentenced to twenty years' imprisonment.

Congressional resolutions led American president Grover Cleveland to demand that Waller be set free, and he was released after ten months' incarceration in Marseille. However, the French did not return his concession, which they declared invalid and confiscated.

Military career

Captain in company C, 23 Kansas Infantry in Spanish American War from Blacks Kansans in Spanish-American War

Later life

Waller died in New York in 1907.

References

  1. ↑ "Ex Consul to Madagascar Given Land". Cleveland Gazette. Retrieved 8 June 2012.
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