Simplify the following text for a Grade 8 native English-speaking person.
Original: Langston University is named for John Mercer Langston ( 1829 â `` 1897 ) , civil rights pioneer , first African American member of Congress from Virginia , founder of the Howard University Law School , and American consul-general to Haiti .
Simplified: He was the first African American member of Congress from Virginia . Langston started the Howard University Law School .