Macon is a city in Noxubee County, Mississippi along the Noxubee River. The population was 2,768 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Noxubee County.
Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchback was an American publisher, politician, and Union Army officer who served as Governor of Louisiana from December 9, 1872 to January 13, 1873. Pinchback was the first African-American governor and the second lieutenant governor in the United States. A Republican, Pinchback served as acting governor of Louisiana for 35 days, during which ten acts of Legislature became law. He was one of the most prominent African-American officeholderss during and following the Reconstruction Era.
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.
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.
William Beverly Nash was a barber, shoe shine, porter, waiter, and state senator in South Carolina. An African American, Nash was born enslaved in Virginia, Nash gained his freedom at the age of 43 with the passage of the 13th Amendment. After the American Civil War, he became a state legislator during the Reconstruction Era. He was instrumental in drafting South Carolina's Constitution of 1868, and held several committee positions in the state government over his career. He held his office for 21 years before resigning.
Robert Gleed Sr., was an American politician, merchant, and civic leader. He served as a Republican in the Mississippi State Senate during the Reconstruction era.
William M. Hancock was a judge and state legislator in Mississippi. His father was Judge Jubal Braxton Hancock.
Nelson Green Gill was a state legislator and school organizer in Mississippi. He organized a school for African American students in Holly Springs, Mississippi. Mrs. Gill was also involved with the school. He represented Marshall County, Mississippi in the Mississippi House of Representatives in 1874 and 1875. He was white. He was a Republican.
Nathan Shirley was a state legislator in Mississippi.
Harrison H. Truhart. was a blacksmith and state legislator in Mississippi serving as a representative from 1872 to 1875. In 1872 he was elected to the Mississippi House of Representatives to represent Holmes County, Mississippi along with Perry Howard and F. Stewart. In 1874, again with Perry Howard and Tenant Weatherly replacing Stewart, he represented Holmes County in the House.
Henry H. Harrison was a minister, shoemaker, teacher, and state legislator in Mississippi. He represented Chickasaw County, Mississippi in the Mississippi House of Representatives from 1874 to 1875.
Jeremiah M. P. Williams was a Baptist preacher and state legislator in Mississippi. He served several terms in the Mississippi Senate during and after the Reconstruction era. He represented Adams County, Mississippi.
John Wesley Caradine was an American farmer and state legislator from Mississippi. He served in the Mississippi House of Representatives in 1874 and 1875. He was the first state representative for Clay County, Mississippi after it was established in 1871.
Amos Drane was a delegate to Mississippi's 1868 Constitutional Convention representing Madison County, Alabama. He was one of 16 African American delegates at the constitutional convemtion.
Obediah Crew French was a state legislator in Mississippi. He was a Republican. He and other Republican legislators were ridiculed in the Natchez Democrat. Z. P. Landrum, a fellow legislator, called him a low-bred carpet bag cur. He served as Mississippi's commissioner for the U.S. Centennial.
W. H. Rogers was an American politician. He was a state legislator in Georgia and was the only African-American to serve in the 99th Georgia State Assembly. He represented McIntosh County, Georgia from 1902 until 1907.
Allen Pardee Huggins (1839–1916) was a Union Army soldier, Freedmen’s Bureau official, sheriff, county school superintendent, tax official, and state legislator in Mississippi.
James Pinckney Scales was a lawyer and state legislator in Mississippi. He served in the Mississippi House of Representatives including as the 29th Speaker of the House. He was from a prominent family. He was a Confederate officer during the American Civil War.
David Jenkins was an abolitionist, civil rights campaigner, newspaper founder, and politician in Columbus, Ohio and Mississippi. He served as a state legislator in the Mississippi House of Representatives. He was a Republican. He represented Madison County, Mississippi.
Isham Sweat was a state legislator in North Carolina. He served in the North Carolina House of Representatives representing Cumberland County.
