ELLIS GROVE, IL -- The Pierre Menard Home State Historic Site will mark African-American History Month with an afternoon event dedicated to the life and poetry of John Willis Menard on Sunday, February 22 at 2 p.m.  An African-American journalist, civil rights leader, editor and poet, John Willis Menard was also a native of Kaskaskia, Illinois.   Born there on April 3, 1838, Menard spent his first eighteen years in the small historic village.

            The event will be held in the historic Pierre Menard Home beginning with a short introduction by Illinois Historic Preservation Agency historian Dr. Erin I. Bishop on the life of John Willis Menard.  Following that, Cornelius Davis of the St. Louis Black Repertory Theatre will present a reading of some of Menard’s most moving poems, including “A Peace Offering,” “Frederick Douglass,” “The Negro’s Lament” and “Phyllis Wheatley.”  Refreshments will follow and tours of the Pierre Menard home will also be available throughout the day.

            “Although John Willis Menard is not related to Pierre Menard as far as we have been able to determine, he should still be counted among Illinois’ noted historical figures,” said Dr. Bishop.  “He stood up for black rights as an African-American himself when it was rare and dangerous to do so.”     

            In 1879, J.W. Menard compiled and published a selection of his own poetry entitled Lays in Summer Lands.  The subjects of his poems range from political themes, to faith, love and family.  Tampa University Press reissued the volume of poetry in 2002 with accompanying essays by editors Larry Eugene Rivers, Richard Mathews and Canter Brown Jr.  The “summer lands” Menard refers to in his title are Florida, yet the book contains some works dedicated to his memories of his Illinois home.  Other poems address Lincoln, Grant, William Lloyd Garrison and Frederick Douglas.

            The details of John Willis Menard’s early life in Illinois remain sketchy.  He was not a slave;   some sources describe him as a mulatto--that is, part white.  Both of Menard’s parents, said to be of “French Creole” origins, were born in Illinois.  The family seems to have had ties to New Orleans as well.  It is believed Menard spent his adolescence at work on a farm

in or around Kaskaskia before attending an abolitionist school in Sparta, Illinois.  He later studied at Iberia College in Ohio.  Although he never received a degree, Menard’s brief education laid the groundwork for a career as a black political leader and writer.

            Throughout his life, Menard was very active in promoting civil rights for African Americans.   In 1859, at the age of twenty-one, he spoke in Springfield, Illinois at a celebration to mark the end of slavery in the West Indies.   Menard’s address to the crowd at the State Fairgrounds on the subject of American Slavery was covered in the Illinois State Journal which stated that Menard “gave able remarks in defense of Liberty and equality.  His speech was truly the best of the day.” 

            In 1860, John Willis Menard published An Address to the Free Colored People of Illinois.  At that time, he maintained a residence in Randolph County, Illinois.  Two years after the start of the Civil War, Menard became the first African American to obtain a clerkship in the Interior Department in Washington, D.C. 

            Because Menard favored immigration and colonization of blacks to foreign lands, the government sent him to investigate the Central American country of Belize as a possible solution to what was then termed the “Negro problem.”  Nothing resulted of the journey; however, during his travels Menard met and married a young Jamaican woman named Elizabeth.  Together they had three children.

            Moving to New Orleans to participate in the reconstruction of Louisiana’s government after the end of the Civil War, Menard became the editor of New Orleans newspaper Free South.  In 1868, he campaigned and secured the Republican nomination for the unexpired term of deceased Congressman James Mann.  On election day, Menard clearly received the majority of votes.  Still, his opponent, Caleb S. Hunt, contested the election.  Congressman James A. Garfield, who would later become a U.S. president, stated that “it was too early to admit a Negro to the U.S. Congress.”  The Committee on Elections of the U.S. House of Representatives agreed and denied Menard his seat.  In his quest to be seated in the House of Representatives, Menard spoke before Congress in 1869.  He was the first African American to stand on the floor of the House and address the Representatives.

            Menard later settled in Florida.  A prominent Republican, he became a state legislator in 1873.  He also battled for the rights and interests of African Americans as editor of the Southern Leader.  In 1889, he accepted a clerkship in the census office and moved to Washington, D.C. where he died in 1893. 

            The goal of African-American History Month is to provide Americans with an awareness of the African-American experience throughout history.  African Americans have consistently been left out of American textbooks and other communications media.  The designation of an entire month to recognize the achievements, contributions and experiences of African Americans is an attempt to promote a more inclusive and truthful account of the nation’s history. Originally established as Negro History Week in 1926 by African-American scholar and author, Dr. Carter G. Woodson, the event evolved in 1976 into an entire month-long celebration.

            Partial funding for the February 22 event at the Pierre Menard Home was provided by a grant from the Illinois State Society of Washington, D.C.  The Society will also be holding an event to commemorate the life and times of John Willis Menard in Washington, D.C. on February 25.