Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchback was an American publisher, politician, and Union Army officer. Pinchback was the first African American to serve as governor of a U.S. state and the second African American to serve as lieutenant governor of a U.S. state. A Republican, Pinchback served as acting governor of Louisiana from December 9, 1872, to January 13, 1873. He was one of the most prominent African-American officeholders during the Reconstruction Era.
More than 1,500 African American officeholders served during the Reconstruction era (1865–1877) after passage of the Reconstruction Acts in 1867 and 1868 as well as 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 1877 and the end of Reconstruction. The following is a partial list some of the most notable of the officeholders pre–1900.
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 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.
James L. Jamison was a farmer, teacher, businessman, and state legislator in South Carolina.
Sanders Ford was a farmer and state legislator in South Carolina. He was elected to represent Fairfield County, South Carolina in the South Carolina Senate in 1872, and died in office in 1873.
Frederick Albert Clinton was a delegate to the 1868 South Carolina Constitutional Convention, state legislator, trial justice, and militia officer. He represented Lancaster County, South Carolina in the South Carolina Senate from 1868 to 1877. He was a Republican.
Green Millsaps was a state legislator in Mississippi. He represented Claiborne County in the Mississippi Senate from 1870 to 1873 He was elected to the state senate during the Reconstruction era in December 1869 and served when Republicans, often referred to as Radical Republicans, held office.
William M. Hancock was a judge and state legislator in Mississippi. His father was Judge Jubal Braxton Hancock.
Jacob Martin was a state legislator in Alabama. He represented Dallas County, Alabama during the Reconstruction era. His post office was at Martin's Station. He signed, with other Republican members of the Alabama legislature, an 1875 memorial of alleged electoral abuses. He and other Alabama state legislators who were African-American and served during the Reconstruction era are listed on a historical marker.
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.
J. Wesley Caradine was a farmer and state legislator in 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.
Doctor Stites was a delegate to Mississippi's 1868 constitutional convention and a state legislator in Mississippi. He was a trustee of Alcorn University. He was a party to the dispute between new and old trustees after a changing of the guard.
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.
Floyd L. Griffin Jr. is an American politician who served as the mayor of Milledgeville, Georgia, from 2001 to 2005, and in the Georgia State Senate from the 25th district from 1995 to 1999, as a member of the Democratic Party. He sought the Democratic Party's nomination for Lieutenant Governor of Georgia in 1998 and Georgia Secretary of State in 2022.
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.
Finis H. Little was a state legislator in Mississippi. A Republican, he served during the Reconstruction era. He served with F. M. Abbott fromnthe 22nd District. He served as president pro tem of the state senate and chaired its finance committee.
