Thomas Morris Chester spent his life on the front lines of the fight for racial equality.
Thomas Morris Chester never picked up a gun during the Civil War, but he fought as vigorously for black rights as any soldier who stormed an enemy stronghold. A pathbreaker for his race throughout his life, he faced real danger as an African-American war correspondent serving at the Virginia front. Chester knew full well that if Confederates captured him they might shoot him outright, or even worse, sell him into slavery.
