George Boyer Vashon was born in
Carlisle, Pennsylvania, the third child and only son of an abolitionist, John Bethune Vashon (or John Bathan Vashon). and the
valedictorian of his class. Vashon's early education in Pittsburgh was provided in part by Rev.
Lewis Woodson, who also taught
Martin Delany. Delany lived with the Vashon family for a time. The second Oberlin graduate was
John Mercer Langston, who lived for a time in his youth in
Cincinnati with one of Lewis Woodson's brothers. Vashon mentored Langston. In all 23 black Americans graduated from Oberlin College before the Civil War. Vashon was the first practicing African-American lawyer in New York State, but was denied the right to practice in Pennsylvania because of his "race", first in 1847 and again in 1868. In 1853 he joined the faculty of
New York Central College, near
Cortland, New York, as a replacement for exiled
William G. Allen. In 1857, he married
Susan Paul Vashon. In the 1870s he lived and worked for a time in Washington, D.C., where he also taught young African Americans at a night school there.
Vashon High School, in
St. Louis, Missouri, is named for Vashon and his son, John Boyer Vashon. In 2010, 163 years after he applied, the Pennsylvania Bar admitted him with the Attorney ID number of 1. ==See also==