Charles Langston was born in Louisa County, Virginia in 1817. He gained his freedom in 1834 and two years later established a school in Chillicothe, Ohio for African-American children.

Langston was member of the Liberty Party and the Ohio Anti-Slavery Society and edited the civil rights journal, Palladium of Liberty (1842-43). He was also a leader of the National Organization of the Sons of Temperance.

Appointed principal of the Columbus Colored School in 1856, Langston continued to be active in the anti-slavery movement. He was also a conductor on the Underground Railroad and in 1858 was convicted for breaking the Fugitive Slave Act.

After the Civil War Langston moved to Kansas where he became principal of the Quindaro Colored School. Charles Langston died in Lawrence, Kansas, in 1892.