William H. Yates
William H. Yates (died September 18, 1868) was an African-American abolitionist, writer, and the President of the first Convention of Colored Men. He focused his writing in the form of articles and editorials in newspapers; along with responses about books and articles written on slavery or civil rights. In contrast to common perception, Yates is not the author of Rights of Colored Men to Suffrage, Citizenship and Trial by Jury (1838), which addressed several topics that included the disenfranchisement of African Americans on the East Coast. The William Yates who produced the treatise was a white abolitionist with no known ties to William H. Yates. Early life and career William H. Yates was born into slavery in Virginia to a free black man and an enslaved Native American woman, which gave the slave owner a claim on Yates. Yates was able to later purchase his freedom, after which point he moved to Washington D.C., where he worked as a porter in the Supreme Court. In this role he was able to make a living and earn a legal education, along with having practical application in a time period of slavery and turmoil. During his time in Washington D.C., Yates also