The United States has had five African American elected officeholders prior to 1867. After Congress passed the First Military Reconstruction Act of 1867 and ratified the Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1870, African Americans began to be elected or appointed to national, state, county and local offices throughout the United States.

Four of the five officeholders served in New England states. Three officeholders served as state legislators.

Wentworth Cheswill first served in an elective office in 1776 as a local school board member in Newmarket, New Hampshire, and later as a justice of the peace (making him the first African American to serve as a judge). Held an elective office until his death in 1817. Alexander Lucius Twilight was an American educator, politician, and minister. In the United States, he was the first African American to earn from an American college a degree (Middlebury College in 1823). He was the first African American in the United States elected to serve in a state legislature (elected to the Vermont House of Representatives in 1836). Twilight was also a minister and secondary school principal, building Athenian Hall now part of the Orleans County Grammar School. John Mercer Langston Edward Garrison Walker, served as a state legislator in Massachusetts. Charles Lewis Mitchell was another African American early elected as a state legislator (served a one-year term in the Massachusetts House of Representatives following election in 1866). During the American Civil War he served in the 55th Massachusetts Colored Volunteer Infantry and lost a foot during the Battle of Honey Hill.

List of African-American officeholders of the United States, 1789–1866 Political Parties

Officeholder State Public office Took office Left office Party Wentworth Cheswill(1746–1817) New Hampshire Local School Board 1776 Justice of the Peace 1805 1817 Alexander L. Twilight(1795–1857) Vermont State Legislator 1836 1837 Whig John Mercer Langston(1829–1897) Ohio Township Clerk 1855 Free Democratic Edward G. Walker(1831–1901) Massachusetts State Legislator January 2, 1867 January 1, 1868 Republican Charles L. Mitchell(1829–1912) Massachusetts State Legislator January 2, 1867 January 1, 1868 Republican

See also

Federal government

African Americans in the United States Congress List of African-American United States representatives List of African-American United States senators Congressional Black Caucus Congressional Black Caucus Foundation List of African-American United States Cabinet members List of African-American officeholders during Reconstruction

State and local government List of African-American U.S. state firsts List of first African-American mayors List of African-American statewide elected officials

See also List of African-American officeholders (1900–1959)

References

Bibliography