Charles Lenox Remond Charles Lenox Remond ( 1 February 1810 – 22 December 1873 ) was an American orator , abolitionist and military organizer during the American Civil War . He was the brother of Sarah Parker Remond , also heavily engaged in the cause . Biography . Early years . Remond was born free in Salem , Massachusetts to John Remond , a native of the island of Curaçao , a hairdresser , and Nancy Lenox , daughter of a prominent Bostonian , a hairdresser and caterer . The eldest son of eight children , Charles Remond began his activism in opposition to slavery while in his twenties as an orator speaking at public gatherings and conferences in Massachusetts , Rhode Island , Maine , New York and Pennsylvania . Activism . In 1838 the " Massachusetts Anti - Slavery Society " , chose him as one of its agents . As a delegate from the " American Anti - Slavery Society " , he went with William Lloyd Garrison to the World ' s Anti - Slavery Convention in London in 1840 . The young Remond had a reputation as an eloquent lecturer and is reported to have been the first black public speaker on abolition . In 1842 at meetings held by Remond and his sister in New Brighton , Massachusetts , Remond stated " When the world shall learn that " mind makes the man " — that goodness ; moral worth , and integrity of soul , are the true tests of Character , then prejudice against caste and color , will cease to be . " Remond recruited black soldiers in Massachusetts for the Union Army during the Civil War , particularly for the famed 54th and 55th Massachusetts Infantry . He was also active in recruiting for the U . S . Colored Troops . Personal life . Remond ' s family operated a hairdressing business , and catering service in which several members participated . Remond would eventually strike out on his own ; after the Civil War ended , he worked as a clerk in the Boston Customs House , and as a street lamp inspector . He later purchased a farm in South Reading ( now Wakefield ) , Massachusetts . Charles L . Remond ' s siblings included Nancy , the eldest , wife of James Shearman , an oyster dealer ; Caroline , a salon owner , wife of Joseph Putnam ; Cecelia , co - owner of a wig salon , wife of James Babcock ; Maritchie Juan , wig salon co - owner ; Sarah Parker , abolition activist ; and John , who was married to Ruth Rice . Remond was married to Amy Matilda ( Williams ) Cassey ( 1809 – 56 ) , the daughter of Rev . Peter Williams , Jr . and the widow of wealthy Philadelphia barber Joseph Cassey , to whom she bore eight children . After Cassey ' s death in 1848 , she married Remond and moved to Salem , Massachusetts where she lived until her death on 15 August 1856 . His second wife was Elizabeth Magee , a native of Virginia , whom he married in Newton , Massachusetts on 5 July 1858 , with the famed Abolitionist Rev . Theodore Parker officiating . Before her death in 1871 , she bore Remond four children : Amy Matilda ( 1859 – 72 ) , Charles Lenox , Jr . ( 1860 – 82 ) , Wendell Phillips ( 1863 – 66 ) , and Albert Ernest ( 1866 – 1903 ) . Remond died in Boston in December 1873 . Charles Remond Douglass , the son of Frederick Douglass , was named for him . Remond is buried in Harmony Grove Cemetery , in Salem .