African-American officeholders in the United States, 1789–1866

The United States has had five African-American elected office holders prior to 1867. After Congress passed the First Military Reconstruction Act of 1867 and ratified the Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1870, African Americans began to be elected or appointed to national, state, county and local offices throughout the United States.[1]

In 1836, Alexander L. Twilight became the first African American to be elected as a state legislator in the United States.

Four of the five office holders served in a New England state. Three officeholders served as state legislators.

List of African-American officeholders of the United States, 1789–1866

Political Parties

  Party affiliation not known   Republican

Officeholder State Public office Took office Left office Party Ref.
Wentworth Cheswell
(1746–1817)
New Hampshire Local School Board 1776 [4][5][6]
Justice of the Peace 1805 1817
Alexander L. Twilight
(1795–1857)
Vermont State Legislator 1836 1857 [7][8][9][10]
John Mercer Langston
(1829–1897)
Ohio Township Clerk 1854 Liberty Party of Ohio [11][12][13]
Edward G. Walker
(1831–1901)
Massachusetts State Legislator 1866 1867 Republican [14][15][16]
Charles L. Mitchell
(1829–1912)
Massachusetts State Legislator 1866 Republican [15]

See also

Federal government

State and local government

References

  1. Walton, Puckett & Deskins (2012), pp. 185–186.
  2. Hewitt (1991), pp. 453.
  3. Baum (1983), pp. 62.
  4. Walton, Puckett & Deskins (2012), pp. 185 (table), 186–187.
  5. Cocom (1999).
  6. Fitts (1912), pp. 103, 468.
  7. Winter.
  8. Alexander.
  9. Hahan (1998).
  10. Smith (1993), pp. 118 note 59.
  11. Walton, Puckett & Deskins (2012), pp. 14, 185 (table), 186.
  12. Smith (1993), pp. 408.
  13. United States Congress.
  14. Hurst.
  15. Walton, Puckett & Deskins (2012), pp. 14, 185 (table).
  16. Smith (1993), pp. 100, 118 note 59.

Bibliography

  • "Alexander Twilight". Old Stone House Museum. Retrieved 5 January 2013.
  • Baum, Dale (March 1983). "Woman Suffrage and the "Chinese Question": The Limits of Radical Republicanism in Massachusetts, 1865-1876". The New England Quarterly. 56 (1): 60. doi:10.2307/365311. JSTOR 365311.
  • Cocom, Mario de ' y (1999). "Cheswell". Secret Daughter: The Blurred Racial Lines of Famous Families. Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). Retrieved 10 January 2013.
  • "Langston, John Mercer, (1829 - 1897)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. United States Congress. Retrieved November 24, 2013.
  • Fitts, James Hill (1912). Carter (ed.). History of Newfields, New Hampshire, 1638-1911. The Rumford Press. Retrieved January 10, 2013.
  • Hahan, Michael (1998). Alexander Twilight: Vermont's African American Pioneer. Shelburne, Vermont: New England Press. ISBN 978-1-881535-31-7.
  • Hewitt, John H. (Autumn 1991). "A Black New York Newspaperman's Impressions of Boston, 1883". The Massachusetts Review. 32 (3).
  • Hurst, Ryan. "Walker, Edwin Garrison (1830-1901)". BlackPast.org: Remembered & Reclaimed. Retrieved 5 January 2013.
  • Smith, J. Clay Jr. (1993). Emancipation: The Making of the Black Lawyer, 1844-1944. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 9780812216851.
  • Walton Jr., Hanes; Puckett, Sherman C.; Deskins Jr., Donald R. (2012). The African American Electorate: A Statistical History. Congressional Quarterly Press. ISBN 9780872895089.
  • Winter, Kari J. "Twilight, Alexander (1795-1857)". BlackPast.org: Remembered & Reclaimed. Retrieved 5 January 2013.
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