Edmund Fitzgerald Fredericks

Edmund Fitzgerald Fredericks (1874 or 1875–1935) was a lawyer and educator from British Guiana.

Fredericks came to the United States to study to become a lawyer, settling in North Carolina in 1903.[1] He graduated from Shaw University in 1905.[2] He became the principal and teacher of the segregated Mooresville Colored School.[1] He worked there until 1917, then moved to England, where he worked during World War I in the War Office.[1] Fredericks became involved in the African Progress Union (APU).[1] Fredericks served as a delegate to the first Pan-African Congress in 1919.[3] That same year, he returned to British Guiana.[1]

Fredericks, along with Theodore Theophilus Nichols started the Negro Progress Convention (NPC) in 1922.[4] This organization was meant to assist Black people in British Guiana, and worldwide.[4] In 1923, he was living in Georgetown, Guyana.[5] Fredericks created trade schools for young people and established scholarships for students to study at university.[6] Fredericks was also on Executive and Legislative Councils in British Guiana.[7]

Fredericks died at age 60 on April 6, 1935.[1]

  1. ^ a b c d e f Deem, John (February 13, 2019). "Black History Month: Immigrant lawyer led Mooresville's first school for African-Americans". Lake Norman Publications. Retrieved April 19, 2023.
  2. ^ "Lawyer from Africa". The Morning Post. March 29, 1905. p. 7. Retrieved April 19, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ Contee, Clarence G. (January 1972). "Du Bois, the NAACP, and the Pan-African Congress of 1919". The Journal of Negro History. 57 (1): 22. doi:10.2307/2717070. JSTOR 2717070.
  4. ^ a b Westmaas, Nigel (August 22, 2021). "HISTORY: The Negro Progress Convention of Guyana (1922 – circa 1938)". Guyanese Online. Retrieved April 19, 2023.
  5. ^ Goodman, J.A.B. (November 15, 1923). "Mooresville Plays Concord Friday—Conductor Atwell is Holding His Own—Meeting at Central Methodist Church—Personal Mention". Statesville Record And Landmark. p. 1. Retrieved April 19, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ Granger, David A. (July 29, 2010). "Society: Waking the Dead". Stabroek News. Retrieved April 19, 2023.
  7. ^ "Glimpses of Guyanese History". Stabroek News. March 5, 2009. Retrieved April 19, 2023.