Hilyer, Andrew Franklin

Impact on the world

Born enslaved in Georgia, Hilyer became the first African American graduate of the University of Minnesota in 1882, earned two law degrees from Howard University, and worked as a Treasury Department clerk while pursuing real estate investment and mechanical invention on the side; his 1900 patents improved the efficiency and comfort of coal- and wood-fired hot-air heating systems used in homes and buildings of the era, addressing the dry-air problem that plagued early central heating. Hilyer's larger legacy rests on his organizational work: he co-founded and served as first president of the Union League of the District of Columbia in 1892, whose published directories documented the explosive growth of Black-owned businesses in Washington from 120 in 1894 to over 1,000 by 1901, and he represented Black American business interests at the 1900 Paris Exposition. He also ran a secret twelve-member lobbying group, the Correspondence Club, to influence public policy affecting Black Americans, and helped found the S. Coleridge-Taylor Choral Society with his first wife, Mamie.

Life & background

Born August 14, 1858, in Georgia into slavery, Hilyer relocated with family to Nebraska and then Minnesota after emancipation, graduating from the University of Minnesota in 1882 and Howard University's law school in 1885. He worked as a federal clerk, real estate investor, and inventor in Washington, D.C., while leading Black civic and business organizations for more than three decades; he died at his Washington home on January 13, 1925, at age 66, and is buried in the city's Harmony Cemetery.

Sources

1. African American Registry; Historical Marker Database; Filters Fast Black History Month series