HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHTM) -- Celebrating the work of a Harrisburg native on Wednesday, May 11, Mayor Wanda Williams was joined by state and county leaders for a special street dedication.
Mayor Williams took part in a wreath-laying ceremony near the gathering at the Crossroads Monument, honoring the contributions of Thomas Morris Chester. Chester was America's first Black war correspondent who helped recruit Black men to the Union Army during the Civil war.
A stretch of Market Street was named Thomas Morris Chester Way, to help remember how helped the country during the time of war.
"Thomas Chester walked the streets of Harrisburg getting enough signatures of the black community of the old 8th ward to president lincoln in response of the free people about the emancipation proclamation he dared to push back on a document," Lenwood Sloan of the Commonwealth Monument Project said.
Thomas Morris Chester also fought for the rights and equality of Black Union soldiers.
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