Background
He was born in Ahoskie, North Carolina, the son of Lucy Peoples and an unknown father.
He was born in Ahoskie, North Carolina, the son of Lucy Peoples and an unknown father.
He graduated as valedictorian of Waters Training School in Winton, North Carolina in 1901, and attended Wayland Academy and Virginia Union University in Richmond, Virginia from 1901 to 1903. He then attended Western University of Pennsylvania, (now the University of Pittsburgh) and graduated from its law school in 1909.
Vann was one of only five black attorneys in Pittsburgh in 1910, a city with more than 25,000 African Americans. Largely neglected and even ill-treated (staff stenographers often refused to take dictation from him because he was black ), Vann could not get an appointment to see the Attorney General and in fact may never have met the man while in Washington. Vann resigned in 1935 to return to the Pittsburgh Courier and then led it to prominence as the nation"s leading black weekly.
He is entombed at Homewood Cemetery, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.
The Liberty Ship Steamship Robert L. Vann was launched on 10 October 1943 in Portland, Maine with his widow Jessie Matthews Vann attending the launch. The former Robert L. Vann Elementary School, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was named in his honor.
Robert L. Vann School, Ahoskie, North Carolina, named in his honor. The Belgian Tower at the 1939 New York World"s Fair was transported to Virginia Union University and renamed the Robert L. Vann Memorial Tower.
The Liberty Ship Steamship Robert L. Vann was named in honor of Vann.