Many slaves didn't receive a last name until they were freed. Some African Americans adopted the names of famous Americans such as Washington, Jefferson, Jackson, or Clay, or from those who helped African Americans at the time, such as the 19th century abolitionist John Brown. According to Stuart Berg Flexner in his book Listening to America , many African Americans took the last name of Howard in honor of General Oliver Otis Howard, who was a Union general in the Civil War and head of the Freedman's Bureau from 1865-1874, and also the founder and early president of Howard University. The name Howard became so popular a name with African Americans at the time, that in the 1980s about one-third of all Howards in the United States were African American. All rights reserved.
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