Barrister Twlight also founded Brownington Academy in Vermont. Jane Steele. -----Original Message----- >From: Paul Finkelman <[log in to unmask]> >Sent: Jun 10, 2008 1:39 PM >To: [log in to unmask] >Subject: [VA-HIST] First black elected officails > >The first black elected offical in US was Wentworth Cheswill, a justice >of the peace in New Hampshire in 1768. >Or if you prefer a state, Alexander L. Twilight was elected to the >Vermont Legislature in 1836. He is also probably the first black in the >US to earn a college degree — Middlebury, 1823. I have not found any >others, but there may be some out there. > >Paul Finkelman >President William McKinley Distinguished Professor of Law > and Public Policy >Albany Law School >80 New Scotland Avenue >Albany, New York 12208-3494 > >518-445-3386 >[log in to unmask] > >>>> Paul Finkelman <[log in to unmask]> 6/9/2008 4:42 PM >>> > > >LOUISA, Va. -- Planted in the lawn at the courthouse on West Main >Street >here is a gray historical marker that draws little attention. It >proudly >proclaims that the country's first black elected official was native >son >John Mercer Langston, born in this central Virginia county, the son of >a >wealthy white planter and an emancipated slave of Indian and black >ancestry. > >History seems to whisper more often than it shouts. Langston was one of >the >most extraordinary men of the 19th century, and yet his achievements >-- >prominent abolitionist, first black congressman from Virginia, founder >of >what would become the Howard University law school -- have largely >been >forgotten. In the arc of American advancement toward black political >empowerment, Langston represents the symbolic beginning. Elected >township >clerk of Brownhelm, Ohio, on April 2, 1855, he became, by many >accounts, the >first "Negro" elevated to public office by popular vote. > >It took 153 years to get from John Mercer Langston to Barack Hussein >Obama, >a journey that endured the dashed hopes of Reconstruction and the >oppression >of Jim Crow to arrive at a moment that has stunned even those >optimistic >about America's racial progress. An underdog black politician has >secured a >major party's presidential nomination in a country where less than 4 >percent >of its elected officials are African Americans? > >Posted on HNN - History News Network, Monday, June 9, 2008 > >-- >Jon Kukla >www.JonKukla.com > >______________________________________ >To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe please see the >instructions at >http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html > > > >J. K. Brandau > Murder At Green Springs: > The True Story of the Hall Case, > Firestorm of Prejudices > http://www.murderatgreensprings.com > > >______________________________________ >To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe please see the >instructions at >http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html > > >______________________________________ >To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe please see the >instructions at >http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html > >______________________________________ >To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe please see the instructions at >http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html Lillian Jane Steele ______________________________________ To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html