Muhammad Ali
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As we celebrate Juneteenth on its 163rd anniversary, let us not forget all those who made the ultimate sacrifice to ensure it happened. No one should ever be allowed to overshadow our Nation’s history in any way, shape, or form. This history belongs to all of us, and as we celebrate, let’s remember those who…
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The National Park Service recently marked the 150th Anniversary of the Emancipation Memorial…
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The Emancipation Memorial, also known as the Freedman’s Memorial, is the only memorial to President Abraham Lincoln in Washington, D.C. that was erected by the formerly enslaved, and was dedicated on April 14, 1876.
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Archer Alexander was born near Lexington, in Rockbridge County Virginia. He was taken to Missouri in 1829, where he lived in St. Charles for 30 years. He fled on the Undergroud Railroad in 1863, with 16 others. He made his way to St. Louis where he gained his freedom on September 24, 1863 for his…
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The Rock Creek Civil War Round Table (RCCWRT) is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting on Saturday, February 7, 2026 where historian Dorris Keeven-Franke will share the story of Archer Alexander.
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Since this story first aired, the site of freedom seeker’s Archer Alexander’s burial has been listed on the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom….
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A short YouTube video shares Archer Alexander’s historic run for freedom on the Underground Railroad…
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Look closely at the look on Archer Alexander’s face. Have you seen this memorial before? It was dedicated in 1876, with over 25,000 black people attending and its original name is the Freedom Memorial. It was entirely paid for by thousands of formerly enslaved black people.
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…and I send yourself my best Love, I am your affectionate wife, wrote Louisa Alexander to her husband Archer Alexander in November 16, 1863
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Archer Alexander is the great-great-great grandfather of Muhammad Ali.
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Muhammad Ali’s great-great-great grandfather Archer Alexander can be seen today on the controversial Emancipation Memorial in Washington, D.C., that was dedicated to Lincoln by the formerly enslaved in 1876. Why? Well that’s another story…
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Louisa was born around 1810 to a woman enslaved by John McCluer, a Scotch-Irish Presbyterian elder in Rockbridge County, Virginia, who was also her father. When McCluer’s daughter Nancy married James Alexander in 1820, Louisa would meet Alexander’s enslaved man named Archer Alexander. Louisa and Archer would marry …
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After a life of enslavement, on September 24th, 1863, Archer Alexander was free at last! Nine months earlier, the freedom seeker had made a run for freedom that had nearly cost him his life. In January, Archer was visiting his wife Louisa at Naylor’s Store, where she was enslaved, when he overheard his owner and…
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In March of 1863, Muhammad Ali’s ancestor Archer Alexander was brutally beaten and thrown in the St. Louis slave pens, to be sold south.
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It is said that those that do not know their history, are doomed to repeat it. Let us all rise up, by learning the truth of our history. Our ancestors, fought side by side to put an end to slavery. There are those of us that are willing to stand side by side, to once…
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The search for that special slave known as Archer Alexander has begun and needs to be found. Only then can that “true” story, as Keith Alexander calls it, be really known. Not easy when you are trying to find the genealogy of a slave. This is what is known as thorough and exhaustive research, for…
ARCHER ALEXANDER 