Portrait from Music and Some Highly Musical People. Boston: Lee and Shepard, 1878.
Thomas J. Bowers (1836-ca.1885) was born in Philadelphia, the son of the warden of St. Thomas African Episcopal Church. Bowers developed a rich tenor, leading to a singing career that included a North American tour with the acclaimed African American opera singer Elizabeth Greenfield. Famous for his voice, Bowers nevertheless protested racial injustice, once refusing to sing at a Canadian theater until a group of black patrons was allowed to be seated without segregation.
Bowers served as one of Philadelphia’s delegates to the Syracuse convention. Although no remarks by Bowers are recorded in the convention proceedings, he apparently garnered enough respect to be elected a delegate to the Pennsylvania Equal Rights League, a state chapter of the National Equal Rights League.