Abolitionist | Union Spy | State Senator

Abraham Galloway escaped enslavement in Wilmington in 1857 in the cargo hold of a boat headed to Philadelphia and eventually reached Canada, where he began working in the abolitionist movement and shortly after as a Union spy. Galloway was back in North Carolina in 1863 during the Civil War to recruit Black men for the Union cause. 

After he stopped recruiting for the Union, Galloway began fighting for voting rights and political equality. That included leading a delegation to the White House in 1864. Four years later, Galloway was nominated to run for the N.C. Senate in the first election that Black Americans were eligible to hold a state office. He died at 33 years old, just six months after the birth of his second son, Abraham Jr.

Of note: In 1861, Galloway spent roughly 15 weeks in Haiti to work on the recruitment efforts for a John Brown-type military invasion in the American South.