His father, Jesse Glasgow, was a whitewasher and an active member in the Philadelphian African American community (his signature appears at the bottom of the famous “Men of Color, To Arms!

An account from his teacher Frances Jackson-Coppin recalls an incident where the principal had invited a phrenologist to the school in order to disprove his belief in black intellectual inferiority.

Organised by and for Black Philadelphians, the Institute had a particular mission to promote self-education to create 'a unified black consciousness that would, in turn, provide an informed social and political leadership for African Americans'[2] Banneker heavily recruited young members from the ICY, and Glasgow’s fellow ICY graduates, Jacob C. White Jr. and Octavius Catto, also became leaders in the organisation.

[2] In 1859, Glasgow published a 47-page pamphlet called ‘The Harpers Ferry Insurrection: Being an Account of the Late Outbreak in Virginia, and of the Trial and Execution of Captain John Brown, Its Hero’.

[6] This was an account expressing sympathy for white abolitionist John Brown and others who led an unsuccessful raid on Harpers Ferry, a federal armoury in Virginia, in October 1859.

Not only his articulate argumentation for the abolition of slavery reached a wide transatlantic audience thus raising the profile of the abolitionist cause, but Glasgow himself exemplified the success of a liberal education for young black people.

At a time when dominant racial theory dictated that African heritage equalled inferiority to whiteness, Glasgow subverted cultural norms for the academic position of black people and garnered international support for a political and social movement.