The students of the Radical University: John Allen

John Levy Allen (b. 1852)
Massachusetts.  Born free.  Mulatto.  
Occupation: teacher.  
Father's occupation: lawyer.

John Allen was born in Massachusetts to Hannah and Macon Bolling Allen.  Macon was the first African American licensed to practice law in the US.  By 1852, Macon had passed the bar exams in Maine and Massachusetts and had brought the family to Boston to opened a law practice.

Macon moved the family to Charleston, South Carolina after the Civil War.  There he continued to work as a lawyer, forming a law partnership with William J. Whipper and Robert B. Elliot, African American members of the state legislature.

Macon was also active in politics.  In 1872, he ran for Secretary of State as the Reform Republican/Democratic candidate.  His run was unsuccessful, but the next year he was elected as Judge of the Inferior Court of Charleston (a municipal judgeship) by the legislature.

John registered at the University of South Carolina on October 2, 1874.  He was a college student following the modern studies track.  However, the university closed before he could complete his degree.  After the university closure, he returned to Charleston and worked as a teacher.  The present author has been unable to locate any records about him after 1881.

Sources:

1).  Brown, Charles Sumner. "THE GENESIS OF THE NEGRO LAWYER IN NEW ENGLAND." Negro History Bulletin 22, no. 7 (1959): 147-52.

2). 1860; Census Place: Dedham, Norfolk, Massachusetts; Page: 403; Family History Library Film: 803515

3). 1870; Census Place: Charleston Ward 2, Charleston, South Carolina; Roll: M593_1486; Page: 105B

4). Charleston, South Carolina, City Directory, 1881.