John C. Fremont (1813-1890), explorer of the American West and anti-slavery Republican presidential candidate, was a student at the College of Charleston during his teenage years. Reportedly a brilliant student, he was expelled for poor attendance; in 1836 the College awarded him both an undergraduate and a master’s degree. While Fremont ran on the antislavery platform in 1856 and held individual African Americans in high esteem, he did not necessarily work for their equal rights. His leadership in the West also produced colossal human rights violations for Native Americans, including a well-documented and brutal massacre of hundreds of men, women, and children on the Sacramento River in 1846. Portrait by John Chester Buttre, Feb. 23, 1859. Courtesy of Library of Congress.Download Original File
