Pinchback, Pinckney Benton Stewart

Pinchback, Pinckney Benton Stewart

▪ American politician
born May 10, 1837, Macon, Ga., U.S.
died Dec. 21, 1921, Washington, D.C.
 freeborn black who was a Union officer in the American Civil War and a leader in Louisiana politics during Reconstruction (1865–77).

      Pinchback was one of 10 children born to a white Mississippi planter and a former slave—whom the father had freed before the boy's birth. When the father died in 1848, the family fled to Ohio, fearing that white relatives might attempt to re-enslave them.

      Pinchback found work as a cabin boy on a canal boat and worked his way up to steward on the steamboats plying the Mississippi, Missouri, and Red rivers. After war broke out between the states in 1861, he ran the Confederate blockade on the Mississippi to reach Federal-held New Orleans; there he raised a company of black volunteers for the North, called the Corps d'Afrique. When he encountered racial discrimination in the service, however, he resigned his captain's commission.

      Returning to New Orleans after the war, Pinchback organized the Fourth Ward Republican Club and served as a delegate to the convention that established a new constitution for Louisiana. He was elected to the state senate in 1868 and then was named its president pro tempore; as such he became lieutenant governor upon the death of the incumbent in 1871. From Dec. 9, 1872, to Jan. 13, 1873, he served as acting governor while impeachment proceedings were in progress against Henry Clay Warmoth. In the meantime he went into business and acquired control of a Republican paper, the New Orleans Louisianian.

      In 1872 Pinchback was elected to Congress, but his Democratic opponent contested the election and won the seat. A year later he was elected to the U.S. Senate, but he was again refused the seat amid charges and countercharges of fraud and election irregularities—although some observers said it was the colour of his skin that counted against him. He was appointed to his last office in 1882 as surveyor of customs in New Orleans.

      At the age of 50 he decided to take up a new profession and entered Straight College, New Orleans, to study law; he was subsequently admitted to the bar. Disillusioned with the outcome of Reconstruction and the return to power of the traditional white hierarchy, he moved to Washington, D.C., where he remained active in politics.

* * *


Universalium. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно сделать НИР?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Pinchback, Pinckney (Benton Stewart) — (10 may. 1837, Macon, Ga., EE.UU.–21 dic. 1921, Washington, D.C.). Político estadounidense. Hijo de una ex esclava y un hacendado blanco, trabajó de camarero en los vapores fluviales. Al inicio de la guerra de Secesión, llegó a Nueva Orleans, que …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchback — Portrait de Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchback Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchback (10 mai 1837 21 décembre 1921) est un homme politique américain qui fut le premier afro américain à gouverner un État des État …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchback — P. B. S. Pinchback Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchback (* 10. Mai 1837 in Macon, Georgia; † 21. Dezember 1921 in Washington D. C.) war der erste Afroamerikaner, der Gouverneur eines US Bundesstaates war. Pinchback war …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Pinchback, Pinckney (Benton Stewart) — born May 10, 1837, Macon, Ga., U.S. died Dec. 21, 1921, Washington, D.C. U.S. politician. Born to a former slave and a white planter, he became a steward on river steamboats. At the outbreak of the American Civil War, he reached Union held New… …   Universalium

  • Stewart — Stewart, Jacky Stewart, James * * * (as used in expressions) Allen Stewart Konigsberg Bluford, Guion S(tewart), Jr. Castlereagh, Robert Stewart, vizconde Chamberlain, Houston Stewart Darnley, Henry Stewart, Lord Stuart, Stewart Halsted, William… …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Pinchback — P. B. S. Pinchback Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchback (* 10. Mai 1837 in Macon, Georgia; † 21. Dezember 1921 in Washington D. C.) war der erste Afroamerikaner, der Gouverneur eines US Bundesstaates war. Pinchback war …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Pinckney — /pingk nee/, n. 1. Charles, 1757 1824, American Revolutionary leader and politician: senator 1798 1801. 2. Charles Cotesworth /kohts werrth/, 1746 1825, and his brother Thomas, 1750 1828, American patriots and statesmen. * * * (as used in… …   Universalium

  • Pinckney — (as used in expressions) Pinchback, Pinckney (Benton Stewart) Pinckney, Charles Pinckney, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, Eliza Pinckney, Thomas …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Benton — /ben tn/, n. 1. Thomas Hart ( Old Bullion ), 1782 1858, U.S. political leader. 2. his grandnephew Thomas Hart, 1889 1975, U.S. painter and lithographer. 3. a city in central Arkansas. 17,437. * * * (as used in expressions) Benton Thomas Hart… …   Universalium

  • Stewart — /stooh euhrt, styooh /, n. 1. Also, Stuart. See Darnley, Lord Henry. 2. Dugald /dooh geuhld, dyooh /, 1753 1828, Scottish philosopher. 3. James Maitland (Jimmy), 1908 97, U.S. actor. 4. Potter, 1915 85, U.S. jurist: associate justice of the U.S.… …   Universalium

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”