Orleanis Burton

Mr. James Atus was the owner of the first, Black-owned business established in the ‘city of champions’ Brockton, MA. His business was a “modern dry cleaning establishment” as listed in the program advertising for the esteemed National Negro Business League, an organization founded in Boston by Booker T. Washington in 1900. The advertisement was noted according to the publication “Black Studies Research Sources…Records of the National Negro Business League,” Edited Kenneth Hamilton. Born 1858- Death 3 April 1933

As one headline called him, “Private Lemuel A. Ashport” was born March 21, 1846 in Bridgwater, MA to parents Esther Wood and Noah Ashport. He would go on to serve in the renowned 54th Regiment, an all Black battalion from Massachusetts that fought for the Union Army during the Civil War (depicted in the award-winning film, Glory, starring Denzel Washington and Morgan Freeman). Mr. Ashport’s historic importance did not stop there. After the war, he became the city’s first Black police officer, circa 1888. He lived at 22 French Court in Brockton. He died Feb 20, 1905 in Brockton, MA. Born: 1846 - Died: 1905

Ever wonder why Brockton holds the distinction of being “city of champions”? Well, athletes like “Marvelous Marvin Hagler” are the reason why. Mr. Hagler—whose birth name was Marvin Nathaniel—held the title of undefeated middleweight champion from 1980 to 1987. Originally from New Jersey, he moved with his family to Brockton in 1967. His accomplishments earned him the honor of being inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame, as well as the World Boxing Hall of Fame. 

If you're a Brockton resident you might be familiar with the Mary E. Baker school. The Baker school is named after Mary E. Baker, the first African-American to work at Brockton City Hall. She was an advocate for affordable housing and racial integration in education. She helped establish two affordable housing complexes in Brockton and assisted with the integration of Brockton High School. Baker herself graduated from Brockton High school in 1941, going on to get her undergraduate degree from UMass Boston and her master's in education from Cambridge College. In 2008 the city of Brockton honored her by naming a freshly built school after her, the first African American woman to be so honored.

A monument to Orleanis Burton stands in the form of a plaque at the intersection of School, Commercial and Crescent Streets. Burton was the first Black man from Brockton to sign up for WWI, and the only Brocktonian to die overseas. He was born July 26,1892 in Virginia, and came to Brockton with family in 1905 (nearing the era of the Great Migration) to pursue a better education. He is said to have joined the war effort–as many African-Americans did–to fight for democracy. Mr. Burton died in France in 1918. The monument sits in what is now known as “Private Orleanis W. Burton Plaza.” Born: 1892 - Died: 1918