P. B. S. Pinchback

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P. B. S. Pinchback
25th Governor of Louisiana
In office December 9, 1872 – January 13, 1873
Lieutenant(s)	none
Preceded by	Henry C. Warmoth
Succeeded by	election contested John McEnery and William P. Kellogg
Born	May 10, 1837 Macon, Georgia
Died	December 21, 1921 Washington, DC
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Nina Emily
Religion	African Methodist Episcopal

Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchback (May 10, 1837 – December 21, 1921) was the first African American to become governor of a U.S. state. Pinchback, a Republican, served as the governor of Louisiana for thirty-five days: from December 9, 1872, to January 13, 1873.

Contents 1 Early life 2 Political career 3 Later life 4 Legacy 5 See also 6 Sources

[edit] 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 the Gilmore High School in Cincinnati. After his father died in 1848, he left Cincinnati because he feared that his paternal relatives would force him back into slavery. He hence worked as a hotel porter and barber in Terre Haute, Indiana.

In 1860, while in Indiana, Pinchback married the former Nina Emily. They had two daughters and four sons.

[edit] Political career

During the Civil War, Pinchback traveled to Louisiana and became the only African-American captain in the Union-controlled 1st Louisiana Native Guards.

After the war, he became active in the Republican Party and participated in Reconstruction state conventions. In 1868, Pinchback 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 president pro tempore. He became acting lieutenant governor upon the death of Oscar Dunn, the first elected African American lieutenant governor of a U.S. state. Pinchback was elevated to the Louisiana governorship upon the impeachment and removal from office of his predecessor, Republican governor Henry Clay Warmoth, for political corruption and for allegedly "stealing" the governor's office from the Democrat John McEnery.

[edit] 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 his elections were contested, and his Democratic opponents were instead seated. Pinchback served on the Louisiana State Board of Education and was instrumental in establishing the predominantly black Southern University in Baton Rouge in 1879. He was a member of the Southern 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 (closed 1934) in New Orleans. He was admitted to the bar in 1886. Thereafter, he moved to New York City, where he was a federal marshal, and to Washington, D.C., where he practiced law.

Pinchback died in Washington in 1921 and was quietly interred in Metairie Cemetery in New Orleans even though the cemetery at the time was exclusively for whites.

[edit] Legacy

Not until 1990 did L. Douglas Wilder of Virginia became the second African-American to serve as a state governor (and the first to be elected to the office). Deval Patrick of Massachusetts was sworn into office as the third in January 2007. Both Wilder and Patrick were elected as Democrats.

Pinchback was the maternal grandfather of Harlem Renaissance author Jean Toomer.

[edit] See also

• African-American Officeholders During Reconstruction

[edit] Sources

• State Biography
• African American Publications (password required)
• Lerone Bennett, Before the Mayflower (1969)
• Arna W. Bontemps, 100 Years of Negro Freedom (1961)
• Agnes Smith Grosz, "The Political Career of Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchback," Louisiana Historical Quarterly, XXVII (1944)

Preceded by Henry Clay Warmoth (R)

Governor of Louisiana Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchback (R) 1872–1873

Succeeded by John McEnery (D)/ William Pitt Kellogg (R)

Governors of Louisiana

First Period of Statehood (1812-1861): Claiborne • Villeré • Robertson • Thibodaux • H. Johnson • Derbigny • Beauvais • Dupre • Roman • White • Roman • Mouton • I. Johnson • Walker • Hébert • Wickliffe • Moore Confederate Louisiana (1861-1865): Moore • H. Allen Union-Controlled Louisiana (1862-1865): Shepley • Hahn Reconstruction Era (1865-1868): Wells • Flanders • Baker Second Period of Statehood (1868-Present): Warmoth • Pinchback • J. McEnery • Kellogg • Nicholls • Wiltz • S. McEnery • Nicholls • Foster • Heard • Blanchard • Sanders • Hall • Pleasant • Parker • Fuqua • Simpson • H. Long • King • O. Allen • Noe • Leche • E. Long • Jones • Davis • E. Long • Kennon • E. Long • Davis • McKeithen • Edwards • Treen • Edwards • Roemer • Edwards • Foster Jr. • Blanco