Related Research Articles
The Georgia Republican Party (GAGOP) is the affiliate of the Republican Party in the U.S. state of Georgia and one of the two major political parties. It is currently the dominant party in the state and is chaired by Joshua McKoon.
More than 1,500 African American officeholders served during the Reconstruction era (1865–1877) and in the years after Reconstruction before white supremacy, disenfranchisement, and the Democratic Party fully reasserted control in Southern states. Historian Canter Brown Jr. noted that in some states, such as Florida, the highest number of African Americans were elected or appointed to offices after the end of Reconstruction in 1877. The following is a partial list of notable African American officeholders from the end of the Civil War until before 1900. Dates listed are the year that a term states or the range of years served if multiple terms.
John Alexander Buchanan was a member of the United States House of Representatives from Virginia and a judge of the Court of Appeals of Virginia.
John W. A. Sanford Sr. was a plantation manager, military officer, land agent, and politician from Georgia. He served as Secretary of State of Georgia and in the United States House of Representatives.
Alfred Eliab Buck was a U.S. Representative from Alabama.
James Randolph Evans is an American lawyer and diplomat who served as the United States Ambassador to Luxembourg from 2018 to 2021. He presented his credentials on June 19, 2018, to the Grand Duke of Luxembourg. A member of the Republican Party from Georgia, he specializes in litigation, as well as professional, legal and government ethics. Evans is a partner at the global law firm Squire Patton Boggs.
James Moore Wayne was an American attorney, judge and politician who served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1835 to 1867. He previously served as the sixteenth mayor of Savannah, Georgia, from 1817 to 1819 and the member of the United States House of Representatives for Georgia's at-large congressional district from 1829 to 1835, when he was appointed to the Supreme Court by President Andrew Jackson. He was a member of the Democratic Party.
Alexander Stone was a member of Georgia's constitutional convention held in 1867 and 1868 and was an elected member of the Georgia Legislature in 1868. He was a Republican.
George H. Clower was a state legislator and schoolteacher in Central Georgia during the Reconstruction era. He was one of two African-Americans elected from Central Georgia to Georgia's legislature during that period.
The "Original 33" were the first 33 African-American members of the Georgia General Assembly. They were elected to office in 1868, during the Reconstruction era. They were among the first African-American state legislators in the United States. Twenty-four of the members were ministers. Upon taking office, white Democrats, then a minority in the Assembly, conspired with enough white Republicans to expel the African-American legislators from the Assembly in September 1868. The next year, the Supreme Court of Georgia ruled that African Americans had the right to hold office in Georgia. The expelled legislators were reinstated and took office in January 1870.
Robert Norton was a former slave who became a member of the Virginia House of Delegates from 1869 until 1874 and 1876 until 1883. He was one of three brothers who held office. His much older brother Frederick S. Norton was a member of the House of Delegates from 1869 until 1871, and his younger brother was Daniel M. Norton. They were reportedly the children of a slave and her owner and escaped to Troy, New York.
Founded in the 1830s as a railroad terminus, Atlanta experienced rapid growth in its early years to become a major economic center of Georgia, with several hotels built to accommodate for this growth. Following its destruction during the Civil War, Atlanta experienced a resurgence and another hotel boom commenced in the late 1800s through the early 1900s. In the later half of the 20th century, hotel skyscrapers began to appear on the skyline, including what was at the time the tallest hotel in the United States. Later, a trend emerged of converting old office buildings into boutique hotels.
William Ryal Long was a politician and public official in Florida during the Reconstruction era. He served in the Florida House of Representatives in 1873, 1874 and 1877. He lived in Monticello, Florida and represented Jefferson County, Florida. He was a Democrat.
James Ward Porter was elected a state representative in Georgia during the Reconstruction era, representing Chatham County. Before becoming a representative he was the owner of a tailor's shop in Savannah. This was unusual, as the laws in Georgia at the time largely prohibited Black people from owning property. He and other African Americans were expelled from the legislature.
Styles Linton Hutchins was an attorney, politician, and activist in South Carolina, Georgia, and Tennessee between 1877 and 1906. Hutchins was among the last African Americans to graduate from the University of South Carolina School of Law in the brief window during Reconstruction when the school was open to Black students and the first Black attorney admitted to practice in Georgia. He practiced law and participated in Georgia and Tennessee politics. He served a single term (1887-1888) in the Tennessee General Assembly as one of its last Black members before an era of entrenched white supremacist policies that lasted until 1965, and advocated for the interests of African Americans. He called for reparations and attempted to identify or create a separate homeland for Blacks. He was a member of the defense team in the 1906 appeal on civil rights grounds by Ed Johnson of a conviction of rape, a case which reached the Supreme Court before it was halted by Johnson's murder by lynching in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Lazarus "Laddie" J. Williams, sometimes spelled "Latty", was a registrar in 1866 and served in the Alabama House of Representatives during the Reconstruction era in Alabama. He was also a Montgomery city council member for three terms from 1869 to 1874. He and Jeremiah Haralson were both African Americans who represented Montgomery County, Alabama. Williams pushed for civil rights legislation. He headed a special committee that was able to arrange for a conference of conservatives to proceed peacefully. He served in 1873 along with Noah B. Cloud representing Montgomery.
Freeman E. Franklin was a state legislator in Mississippi. He served as Speaker of the Mississippi House of Representatives in 1870.
James Edward Dean was a social worker, educator and state legislator who lived in Atlanta, Georgia. He served in the Georgia House of Representatives from 1968 to 1974. His brother Douglas Dean also served as a state representative.
References
- ↑ Thompson, Scott (December 16, 2000). Laurens County. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 9780738506388 – via Google Books.
- 1 2 Drago, Edmund L. (December 16, 1992). Black Politicians and Reconstruction in Georgia: A Splendid Failure. University of Georgia Press. ISBN 9780820314389 – via Google Books.
- ↑ "Can a Negro Hold Office in Georgia?: Decided in Supreme Court of Georgia, June Term, 1869. : Arguments of Counsel, with the Opinions of the Judges, and the Decision of Court in the Case of Richard W. White, Clerk of Superior Court of Chatham Co., Plaintiff in Error. Versus the State of Georgia, Ex Relatione Wm. J. Clements, Defendant in Error". Quo Warranto. Chatham|first1=Richard W.|last1=White|first2=Georgia Supreme|last2=Court|first3=Eugene|last3=Davis|date=December 16, 1869|publisher=Daily Intelligencer Book and Job Office.|via=Google Books}}
- ↑ Thompson, Scott (December 16, 2000). Laurens County. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 9780738506388 – via Google Books.