Everything about P B S Pinchback totally explained
Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchback (
May 10 1837 –
December 21 1921) was the first
African American to become
Governor of a
U.S. state. He was also the first non-white (biracial) Governor of
Louisiana. Pinchback, a
Republican, served as the
Governor of Louisiana for thirty-five days, from
December 9 1872, to
January 13 1873.
Nicholas Lemann, in
Redemption: The Last Battle of the Civil War, described Pinchback as "an outsized figure: newspaper publisher, gambler, orator, speculator,
dandy,
mountebank -- served for a few months as the state's Governor and claimed seats in both houses of Congress following disputed elections but couldn't persuade the members of either to seat him."
Early life
Pinchback was born in
Macon, Georgia (
Bibb County), to a white planter (William Pinchback) and his former
slave, Eliza Stewart. Known as "Pinckney Benton Stewart," he was educated at Gilmore High School in
Cincinnati. After his father died in 1848, he left Cincinnati because he feared that his paternal relatives might try to force him into
slavery. He worked as a hotel porter and barber in
Terre Haute, Indiana.
In 1860, while in Indiana, Pinchback married Nina Emily. They had two daughters and four sons.
Political career
In 1863, during the
Civil War, Pinchback traveled to
New Orleans, Louisiana and raised African-American volunteers for the
Union Army. He became
captain of Company A,
1st Louisiana Native Guards (later reformed as the 73th U. S. Colored Infantry Regiment). However, he resigned his commission due to racial prejudice against black officers.
After the war, Pinchback returned to New Orleans and became active in the Republican Party, participating in
Reconstruction state conventions. In 1868, he organized the Fourth Ward Republican Club in
New Orleans. That same year, he was elected as a Louisiana
state senator, where he became the state senate's president
pro tempore. In 1871 he became acting
lieutenant governor upon the death of
Oscar Dunn, the first elected
African American lieutenant governor of a U.S. state.
In 1872, the incumbent Republican
governor Henry Clay Warmoth, was
impeached and convicted, removing him from office. Pinchback, as lieutenant governor, succeeded as governor on
December 9.
Also in 1872, at a national convention of African-American politicians, Pinchbank had a public disagreement with
Jeremiah Haralson of
Alabama.
James T. Rapier (also of Alabama) submitted a motion that the convention condemn all Republicans who had opposed President Grant in that year's election. Haralson supported the motion, but Pinchback opposed it because it would include Senator
Charles Sumner of Massachusetts, a lifelong anti-slavery fighter whom Pinchback felt African-Americans should laud.
Later life
After his brief governorship, Pinchback remained active in politics and public service. He was elected to both the
U.S. House of Representatives and the
U.S. Senate, but both elections were contested, and his Democratic opponents were seated instead. Pinchback served on the Louisiana State Board of Education and was instrumental in establishing the predominantly black
Southern University in
New Orleans in 1880 (later relocated to
Baton Rouge in 1914). He was a member of
Southern University's board of trustees.
In 1882, Republican President
Chester Alan Arthur named Pinchback as surveyor of customs in New Orleans. In 1885, he studied law at
Straight University (which closed in 1934) in New Orleans. He was admitted to the bar in 1886, and later moved to
New York City where he was a federal
marshal, and then to
Washington, D.C. where he practiced law.
Pinchback died in Washington in 1921 and was interred in
Metairie Cemetery near New Orleans, even though the cemetery at the time was segregated and deemed to be exclusively for whites.
Legacy
It wasn't until 1990 that another African American became governor of any U.S. state. In 1990,
Douglas Wilder of
Virginia became the second African-American state governor (and the first to be elected to the office).
Deval Patrick of
Massachusetts was the third in January 2007 and
David Paterson became the fourth on
March 17,
2008, upon the resignation of
Eliot Spitzer. Wilder, Patrick and Paterson are all Democrats. Only once have two African-American governors served simultaneously (Deval Patrick and David Paterson). In 2007, Republican
Bobby Jindal, who is of South Asian descent, was elected governor of Louisiana for a term that began in January 2008. He is the second non-white to serve as governor of Louisiana.
Pinchback is the maternal grandfather of
Harlem Renaissance author
Jean Toomer.
Further Information
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