Wilder, L. Douglas

Impact on the world

Elected governor of Virginia in 1989 by less than half a percentage point, becoming the first African American elected governor of a U.S. state in the nation's history; the grandson of enslaved people, he had earlier become the first Black member of the Virginia Senate in nearly a century and the first Black candidate to win statewide office in Virginia.

Life & background

Born in Richmond's segregated Church Hill neighborhood to the grandson of enslaved parents, Wilder earned a chemistry degree from Virginia Union University, served in the Korean War where he earned a Bronze Star for leading a group of soldiers through artillery fire to rescue wounded Americans, then earned his law degree from Howard University. In 1969 he became the first African American elected to the Virginia Senate in nearly a century, building a reputation, in journalist Michael Isikoff's words, as the 'undisputed kingpin of black politics in Virginia'; in his first Senate speech he denounced the state's official song for its nostalgic references to slavery, walking out of a reception where it was played, and the song was eventually retired. He won election as lieutenant governor in 1985, the first Black candidate to win statewide office in Virginia, then narrowly won the 1989 governor's race, becoming the first African American elected governor of any U.S. state when he took office in January 1990; the only previous Black governor, P.B.S. Pinchback of Louisiana in 1872, had served just 34 days without being popularly elected. As governor, he ordered state divestment from apartheid South Africa and worked to balance Virginia's budget during a fiscal crisis. He briefly sought the 1992 Democratic presidential nomination and later served as Richmond's first directly elected mayor from 2005 to 2009.

Sources

1. Encyclopedia Virginia; Encyclopædia Britannica; National Governors Association; The HistoryMakers