Pinchback, P.B.S. (Pinckney Benton Stewart)

Impact on the world

Served as acting governor of Louisiana for 34 to 35 days in 1872-73 after the impeachment of Governor Henry Clay Warmoth, becoming, after formally taking an oath of office that predecessor Oscar Dunn never did, the figure most commonly credited as the first African American governor of a U.S. state, though the title remains disputed by historians who note Dunn's earlier, longer tenure as acting governor; Pinchback was separately elected to both the U.S. House and Senate but was denied a seat in either chamber amid fierce opposition from white Southern Democrats.

Life & background

The son of a white Mississippi planter and a formerly enslaved woman, Pinchback was educated in Cincinnati before working on Mississippi River steamboats, then served as an officer in the Union Army's United States Colored Troops during the Civil War. Settling in New Orleans, he entered Republican politics during Reconstruction, won election to the Louisiana State Senate, and became president pro tempore of that body, founding the newspaper the Louisianian in 1870 with the motto 'Republican at all times, and under all circumstances.' He became acting lieutenant governor upon Oscar Dunn's death in 1871, then acting governor in December 1872 after Warmoth's impeachment amid a chaotic, contested gubernatorial election marked by widespread fraud and violence against Black voters; though Dunn had earlier served longer as acting governor, Pinchback's formal oath of office has led him to be more commonly recognized as the first Black state governor in U.S. history. He was separately elected to both the U.S. House and Senate during the same contested election cycle but was denied seating in either chamber, eventually receiving $16,000 in back salary from the Senate as compensation after years of contesting his claim. He later helped found Southern University, a historically Black institution, and worked as a federal revenue agent before his death in Washington, D.C. in 1921.

Sources

1. U.S. Senate Historical Office; Louisiana Secretary of State Historical Resources; Washington Post