The First Black Governor
In 1872 Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchback (1837-1921) became the first black governor of any state. He served from December 9, 1872, to January 13, 1873, while Louisiana governor Henry Clay Warmoth faced impeachment proceedings. Born of a white father and a freed slave mother in Mississippi, Pinchback had been sent to Ohio for an education. He became active in Louisiana politics; his election to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1872 was disputed, as was his election to the U.S. Senate in 1873. He became surveyor of customs in New Orleans about 1883. In the 1890s he moved permanently to Washington, D.C.
Source: Carney Smith, Jessie. Black Firsts: Groundbreaking Events in African American History. New York: Fall River Press, 2009.
As a side note; it was not 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 office). (See Wikipedia link below).
For more information on P.B.S. Pinchback please follow the links below:
http://www.sos.louisiana.gov/tabid/383/Default.aspx
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P._B._S._Pinchback
