Early Life and Family
Fleetwood was born in Baltimore on July 21, 1840, the son of Charles and Anna Maria Fleetwood, both free persons of color. He received his early education in the home of a wealthy sugar merchant, John C. Brunes, and his wife, the latter treating him like her son. He continued his education in the office of the secretary of the Maryland Colonization Society, went briefly to Liberia and Sierra Leone, and graduated in 1860 from Ashmun Institute (later Lincoln University) in Oxford, Pennsylvania. He and others published briefly the Lyceum Observer in Baltimore, said to be the first African American newspaper in the upper South.
With his wife Sara Iredell, whom he married on November 16, 1869, he led an active social life. Fleetwood was acquainted with most of the prominent African Americans of the period. They frequently visited his residence, and presented him with a testimonial in 1889.
Read more about this topic: Christian Fleetwood
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