William Cooper Nell is denied a Franklin Medal.

A 13-year-old student at the grammar school in the African Meeting House, Nell scored higher than any other student in the city, but is denied the medal because he is African-American and instead given a book, a biography of Franklin. Although he is not invited to the awards banquet at Faneuil Hall, Nell gains admission by working as a busboy in order to hear the speeches. Nell subsequently vows to “hasten the day when the color of one’s skin would be no barrier to equal school rights.”