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Biography · Civil Rights & Community

Edwin R. Overall

1835–1901

United States

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Biography

Edwin R. Overall aka Edwin R. Williams (August 25, 1835 – July 31, 1901) was an abolitionist, civil rights activist, civil servant, and politician in Chicago and Omaha. In the 1850s and 1860s, he was involved in abolition and Underground Railroad activities headed at Chicago's Quinn Chapel AME Church. During the U. S. Civil War, he recruited blacks in Chicago to join the Union Army.

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Biography text · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source checked 2026-10-13

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