Seaborn Roddenbery

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"Intermarriage between whites and blacks is repulsive and averse to every sentiment of pure American spirit. It is abhorrent and repugnant. It is subversive to social peace. It is destructive of moral supremacy, and ultimately this slavery to black beasts will bring this nation to a fatal conflict." [7]

Private life

Roddenbery married Johnnie Butler on November 5, 1891. They had five children. [1] [5] The year after Roddenberry's death, his wife received a federal appointment to the position of postmaster (now "postmistress") of Thomasville, Georgia. She held that post through successive four-year appointments under three Presidents: Wilson, Harding, and Coolidge. [8] The last appointment was announced on December 20, 1928. [8]

Retirement and death

A heavy smoker of cigars, Roddenbery's political career was cut short by throat cancer that forced his retirement from active participation in Congress only a few weeks after the failure of H.J. Res 368. Seemingly unaware of the gravity of his illness, he returned home to Georgia only days before his death, telling colleagues that he hoped to return after a period of rest. [5]

Memorial addresses given in the U.S. House and Senate were published. [9]

Influenced by Roddenbery, anti-miscegenation bills were introduced in 1913 in half of the twenty states where this law did not already exist, though only one, in Wyoming, passed.[ citation needed ]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 William J. Northen (1912). Men of Mark in Georgia: A Complete and Elaborate History of the State from Its Settlement to the Present Time, Chiefly Told in Biographies and Autobiographies of the Most Eminent Men of Each Period of Georgia's Progress and Development. Vol. 6. A. B. Caldwell, Atlanta, Georgia. p. 8.
  2. "Dr. Seaborn Anderson Roddenbery, Business". Cairo/Grady County Chamber of Commerce. Retrieved July 24, 2020.
  3. 1 2 "W.B. Rodennbery Company". New Georgia Encyclopedia . Retrieved July 24, 2020.
  4. 1 2 3 "Roddenbery, Seaborn Anderson (1870-1913)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved July 24, 2020.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "Seaborn Roddenbery - Memorial addresses delivered in the House of Representatives and Senate 1915". Hathi Trust . Retrieved July 24, 2020.
  6. "The Crisis July 1912–Gentleman from Georgia". July 1912. Retrieved July 17, 2022.
  7. Gilmore, 1975, p.108
  8. 1 2 "Mrs. J. B. Roddenbery Of Thomasville Named As Postmaster Again". The Atlanta Constitution. December 20, 1928. p. 24. Retrieved July 26, 2020.
  9. "Seaborn Anderson Roddenbery, Late a Senator from Georgia: Memorial Addresses Delivered in the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States". U.S. Government Printing Office. September 17, 1914 via Google Books.

Further reading

Seaborn Roddenbery
Seaborn Roddenbery.jpg
Seaborn Roddenbery in 1912
Member of the U.S.HouseofRepresentatives
from Georgia's 2nd district
In office
February 6, 1910 September 25, 1913
U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded by Member of the  U.S. House of Representatives
from Georgia's 2nd congressional district

February 6, 1910 – September 25, 1913
Succeeded by