Gilbert, James, jr.

Born at Cincinnati, OH, to a white father and Black mother; deafened by a fall. Graduated the Ohio School for the Deaf, 1880. First known Black person to be admitted to Gallaudet College, as a member of the Class of 1886, though he attended for only one year and did not graduate. After leaving college, he worked at various trades, lastly as a layer of stone paving. One hot August day, he was found ill in a Washington, DC lumber yard and died of heart disease before reaching a hospital. As no one claimed his body, he was buried in a potter's field.