John W. Pollard

Biography

John William Pollard (c. 1846 – 1932), born in Virginia into a family of free black farmers while the slave trade was still thriving in the South, was among the first group of African Americans to join the Union Army in 1862, serving in a colored unit during the American Civil War. He later worked as a barber and eventually settled with his wife Catherine Amanda Hughes in Chicago, where his family included five boys and three girls who made pioneering achievements in sports, music, film, and community service.

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