Learn about this forgotten Black history figure, J. B. Raymond, and his rise and fall as an elected official. Participants will hear about the political environment of the late 1890s and early 1900s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, and how that environment provided the support for him to run and be elected as a magistrate in 1894, until 1904.

Instructor: Harriett Gaston, an academic adviser at Penn State Altoona, has been researching Blair County’s African American history since 1997. She has presented her research to numerous organizations, including the Blair County Historical Society, Blair County Genealogical Society, Altoona’s Railroaders Memorial Museum, and the Pennsylvania Civil War.