Frederick Bruce Thomas

Frederick Bruce Thomas was an African American from Mississippi who became a prominent citizen of Moscow and, later, Constantinople (now known as Istanbul).

Thomas was born in 1872, the son of former slaves Hannah and Lewis Thomas. He left Mississippi for London, intending to work as a waiter but then moved to Russia, where he ran a series of theaters and restaurants. During the Russian Revolution, he fled to Turkey, where he had less success in business and became in debt. He found himself unable to return to the United States and died in a Turkish prison. He was buried in the Feriköy Protestant Cemetery in Constantinople.