African-American officeholders (1900–1959)
From 1900 to 1959 setbacks for African Americans followed the Reconstruction era as "Redeemer" Democrats retook control of the South and restored white supremacy in government. African-Americans were largely barred from voting and almost entirely obstructed from public office in former Confederate states under the Jim Crow regime. The number of African American officeholders would dramatically increase following the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The following is a list of African-American holders of public office from 1900 to 1959
Minnie Buckingham Harper became the first African-American woman to serve in a state legislature when she was appointed in 1928 to serve out the remainder of her husband's term in the West Virginia House of Delegates. Crystal Bird Fauset was the first Black woman elected to a legislature when was elected to the Pennsylvania House in 1938.
Federal office
editHouse of Representatives
edit- Oscar Stanton De Priest (1929-1953)
- Arthur Wergs Mitchell (1935-1943)
- William L. Dawson (1943-1970)
- Adam Clayton Powell Jr. (1945-1971)
- Charles Diggs (1955-1980)
- Robert N. C. Nix Sr. (1958-1979)
State office
editAlaska
editHouse
edit- Blanche McSmith (1959)
California
editAssembly
edit- Frederick Madison Roberts (1918)
- Augustus Hawkins (1934-1960)
Colorado
editSenate
edit- George L. Brown (1957)
House
edit- George L. Brown (1955)
Connecticut
editHouse
edit- Wilfred X. Johnson (1958), the Wilfred X. Johnson House where he lived is listed on the National Register of Historic Places
Delaware
editHouse
edit- William J. Winchester (1948)
Georgia
editHouse
edit- H. F. McKay, state representative from Liberty County (1900-1901) [1]
- Lectured Crawford, state representative from McIntosh County (1886-1887, 1890–1891, 1900–1901)
- W. H. Rogers, state representative from McIntosh County (1902-1908)
- Amos Rogers[dubious – discuss]
- Hercules Wilson[2][3] (1882-1885)[dubious – discuss]
- Anthony Wilson, state representative from Camden County, Georgia (1884-1888?)[3][4] (?-1893)[dubious – discuss]
- Frasier / Frazier, first name unknown, state representative from Liberty County, Georgia[3][dubious – discuss]
- Samuel A. McIvor, state representative for Liberty County, Georgia[4]
Illinois
editSenate
edit- Adelbert H. Roberts (1924)
- William E. King (1934)
- William A. Wallace (1938)
- Christopher C. Wimbish (1942)
- Fred J. Smith (1954)
House
edit- John G. Jones (1900)
- Edward D. Green (1904)
- Alexander Lane (1907)
- Robert R. Jackson (1912)
- Sheadrick B. Turner (1914)
- Benjamin H. Lucas (1916)
- Warren B. Douglass (1918)
- George T. Kersey (1922)
- Charles A. Griffin (1924)
- William J. Warfield (1928)
- Charles J. Jenkins (1930)
- Harris B. Gaines (1930)
- Aubrey H. Smith (1934)
- Ernest A. Greene (1936)
- Richard A. Harewood (1936)
- Andrew A. Torrence (1938)
- Dudley S. Martin (1940)
- Corneal A. Davis (1943)
- Christopher C. Wimbish (1943)
- Charles T. Sykes (1944)
- Edward A. Welters (1944)
- Kenneth E. Wilson (1954)
- William H. Robinson (1954)
- J. Horace Gardner (1956)
- Elwood Graham (1956)
- Floy Clements (1958)
- Cecil A. Partee (1957)
- Charles F. Armstrong (1957)
Indiana
editSenate
edit- Robert Brokenburr (1940)
House
edit- Harry H. Richardson (1932)
- Robert L. Stanton (1932)
- Marshall A. Talley (1932)
- James S. Hunter (1940)
- Jesse L. Dickinson (1942, 1944)
- Wilbur H. Grant (1942)
Kansas
editHouse
edit- W. M. Blount (1929-1930, 1933–1936)
- William H. Towers (1937-1939)
Kentucky
editHouse
edit- Charles W. Anderson (1936)
Maryland
editSenate
edit- Harry A. Cole (1955-1966)
House
edit- Emory Cole (1955)
- Truly Hatchett (1955)
- Verda Welcome (1958 )
- Irma George Dixon (1958 )
Massachusetts
editHouse
edit- William H. Lewis (1902)
Michigan
editSenate
edit- Charles A. Roxborough (1930)
- Charles Diggs Sr. (1937-1944)
- Cora Brown (1952)
House
edit- James W. Ames (1901)
- Horace A. White (1941)
- Charline White (1950)
Missouri
editHouse
edit- Walthall M. Moore (1921)
- Edwin F. Kenswil (1943)
- William A. Massingale (1947-1948)
- Walter V. Lay (1949-1954)
- James Troupe Sr. (1954)
Nebraska
editSenate, then Unicameral Legislature
edit- John Adams Jr. (1937)
House (prior to 1937)
edit- T. L. Barnett (1924)
- A. A. McMillan (1924)
- John Andrew Singleton (1927)
- Johnny Owen (1933)
- John Adams Jr. (1935)
New Jersey
editGeneral Assembly
edit- Walter G. Alexander (1920)
- Oliver Randolph (1922)
- James L. Baxter (1927)
- Frank S. Hargrave (1930-1931, 1933–1935, 1937-?, 1938–1942)
- J. Mercer Burrell (1933-1937)
- Guy R. Moorehead (1937-)
- James Otto Hill (1943-1947)
- Madaline A. Williams (1957)
New York
editSenate
edit- Julius A. Archibald (1953)
State Assembly
edit- Edward A. Johnson (1917)
- John C. Hawkins (1919)
- Henri W. Shields (1922)
- Pope B. Billups (1925)
- Lamar Perkins (1930)
- Francis E. Rivers (1930)
- James E. Stevens (1930)
- William T. Andrews (1934)
- Robert W. Justice (1935)
- Daniel Burrows (1938)
- Hulan E. Jack (1940)
- William E. Prince (1944)
- Bessie A. Buchanan (1955)
Ohio
editSenate
editHouse
edit- George W. Hayes (1901)
- H. T. Eubanks (1904)
- A. Lee Beaty (1919)
- Henry Higgins (1919)
- Harry E. Davis (1921)
- E. W. B. Curry (1924)[5][6]
- Perry B. Jackson (1928)
- Chester K. Gillespie (1933-1935, 1943–1945)
- Richard P. McClain (1934)
- David D. Turpeau (1940)
- Sandy F. Ray (1942)
- Jacob Ashburn Sr. (1944)
Oklahoma
editHouse
edit- A. C. Hamlin (1908)
Pennsylvania
editHouse
edit- Harry W. Bass (1911)
- John C. Asbury (1920)
- Andrew F. Stephens (1920)
- William H. Fuller (1924)
- Samuel B. Hart (1924)
- Walter E. Tucker (1930)
- John William Harris (1932)
- Homer S. Brown (1934)
- Richard A. Cooper (1934)
- Walter K. Jackson (!934)
- Hobson R. Reynolds (1935-1936, 1939–1940)
- Marshall L. Shephard (1935-1938, 1941–1942)
- William A. Allmond (1936)
- John H. Brigerman (1937-1938, 1943–1944)
- Samuel D. Holmes (1936)
- Edwin F. Thompson (1936)
- E. Washington Rhodes (1938)
- Crystal Bird Fauset (1938)
- Ralph T. Jefferson (1940)
- Edward C. Young (1940)
- Dennie W. Hoggard (1943-1946, 1949–1954)
- Lewis W. Mintess (1943-1944, 1947–1952)
- Thomas P. Trent (1943-1946, 1950–1951)
- Lee P. Myhan (1945-1946)
- J. Thompson Pettigrew (1945-1946, 1949–1956)
- Susie Monroe (1949-1968)
Vermont
editHouse
edit- William J. Anderson (1944)
Washington
editHouse
edit- John H. Ryan (1933)
- Charles Stokes
West Virginia
editHouse
edit- James M. Ellis (1902)
- Howard Railey (1904)
- Ebenezer Howard Harper (1917)
- Harry J. Capehart (1919–1925)
- Minnie Buckingham Harper (1928, appointed)
Wisconsin
editAssembly
edit- Lucian H. Palmer (1906)
- Cleveland Moland Colbert (1942), elected but decertified after recount[7]
- Leroy J. Simmons (1944)
Local office
editIllinois
edit- Oscar Stanton De Priest, Cook County Board of Commissioners (1904–1908), Chicago City Council (1915–1917, 1943–1947)
- Louis B. Anderson, Chicago City Council (1923-1933)
- William L. Dawson, Chicago City Council (1933-1939)
- Earl B. Dickerson, Chicago City Council (1939-1943)
- Claude Holman, Chicago City Council (1955-1973)
Michigan
edit- William T. Patrick, Detroit City Council (1957-1963)
New York
edit- Adam Clayton Powell Jr., New York City Council (1942-1945)
- Benjamin J. Davis Jr., New York City Council (1945-1949)
Ohio
edit- Thomas W. Fleming, Member, Cleveland City Council
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ https://gahistoricnewspapers.galileo.usg.edu/lccn/sn89053488/1900-10-25/ed-1/seq-4/#date1=01%2F01%2F1885¬text=&date2=12%2F31%2F1902&words=Crawford+Lectured&searchType=advanced&sequence=0&index=5&proxdistance=2&sort=date_asc&rows=12&ortext=&proxtext=%22lectured+crawford%22&=&=&=&=&=&=&=&andtext=&page=4
- ^ Legare, John Girardeau (July 1, 2012). The Darien Journal of John Girardeau Legare, Ricegrower. University of Georgia Press. ISBN 9780820343105 – via Google Books.
- ^ a b c "Georgia's Negro Legislators". Savannah Morning News. 3 October 1885. p. 5. Retrieved 19 July 2022.
- ^ a b Cook Bell, Karen (24 September 2018). "Black Politics in Lowcountry Georgia after the Civil War | Starting Points". Starting Points. Arizona State University. Retrieved 19 July 2022.
- ^ Meyer, Mary (1993-02-19). "Researcher tracking down story of Delaware's first black teacher". The Delaware Gazette. p. 1. Retrieved 2023-09-21.
- ^ Middleton, Evan P. (1917). History of Champaign County, Ohio: Its People, Industries and Institutions. B.F. Bowen. pp. 579–581.
- ^ "Fight Over Assembly Seat". Newspapers.com. The Capital Times. January 14, 1943. p. 10. ISSN 0749-4068. Retrieved 2022-11-01.