of the nineteenth century. Two men were elected from South Carolina and two from North Carolina. After them, no African Americans would be elected to Congress from the South until 1972, after passage of the Voting Rights Act to enforce the exercise of constitutional franchise rights for all citizens. In 1890 Langston was named as a member of the board of trustees of St. Paul Normal and Industrial School, a historically black college, when it was incorporated by the Virginia General Assembly. In this period, he also wrote his autobiography, which he published in 1894. From 1891 until his death in 1897, he practiced law in Washington, D.C. He died at his home, Hillside Cottage at 2225 Fourth Street NW in Washington, DC, on the morning of November 15. He was first buried at Harmony Cemetery in Maryland. Although there was discussion of reinterring him in Nashville, he was reinterred at Woodlawn Cemetery in Washington, DC. Langston was the great-uncle of the poet James Mercer Langston Hughes (better known as Langston Hughes). Legacy and honors The John Mercer Langston House in Oberlin, Ohio, has been designated as a National Historic Landmark. The town of Langston, Oklahoma, founded in 1890 as an all-black town, was named for him. The historically black college in the town, founded in 1897 as the Oklahoma Colored Agricultural and Normal University, was renamed Langston University in honor of John Mercer Langston in 1941. Langston High School in Johnson City, Tennessee, established in 1893, was named for Langston. John M. Langston High School in Danville, Virginia was also named for John Mercer Langston, as was Langston High School in Hot Springs, Arkansas. Future leaders who attended this school included professional football player Ike Thomas, civil rights activist Mamie Phipps Clark, and physician Edith Mae Irby Jones. John Mercer Langston Elementary School at 33 P Street NW in Washington, D.C. was named in his honor. It opened in 1902 as a school for black students and operated until 1993. In 1997 the building served as a homeless shelter, but it has mostly been vacant since the school closed. On July 17, 2021, the Arlington County, Virginia County Board voted to rename its portion of U.S. Route 29, previously named Lee Highway, after John M. Langston. An elementary and community center on U.S. Route 29 already bear his name. Langston Golf Course in Washington, DC is named in his