December 11, 1916

John Bush, who was born into slavery and rose to become founder of the hugely successful and internationally recognized Mosaic Templars of America fraternal organization, died. During his lifetime, Bush was the first black person to be recommended for chief clerkship of the Railway Mail Service’s postal department. He was later appointed by President William McKinley as receiver of the United States Land Office and was reappointed for four additional terms by Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft. At the time of his death, he was one of the wealthiest black men in Arkansas.