This Day in History

Dec. 9, 1872: P. B. S. Pinchback First Black Governor

Time Periods: Reconstruction Period: 1865 - 1876

Themes: African American, Reconstruction, Democracy & Citizenship, Laws & Citizen Rights

I demand simple justice. I am not here as beggar. I do not care so far as I am personally concerned whether you give me a seat or not. I will go back to my people and come here again.

P. B. S. Pinchback. Source: Library of Congress.

On Dec. 9, 1872, P. B. S. Pinchback of Louisiana assumed the impeached governor’s office, becoming the first Black governor in the United States.

He served the remaining month of his predecessors term. Pinchback was elected to Congress in 1873.

However, his opponent, William Pitt Kellogg, contested the election and won the seat. This reversal was due to the Ku Klux Klan’s terrorism of Black voters, as well as corruption on the part of white politicians.

A year later, Pinchback won a seat in the U.S. Senate, only to have it denied him as the result of racially motivated actions that reflected tensions prevalent throughout Louisiana.

Related Resources

Teaching Activities (Free)

Reconstructing the South: A Role Play

Teaching Activity. By Bill Bigelow. 17 pages.
This role play engages students in thinking about what freedpeople needed in order to achieve—and sustain—real freedom following the Civil War. It’s followed by a chapter from the book Freedom’s Unfinished Revolution.

Frances Harper, William Sylvis, Isaac Myers, and John Roy Lynch pictured. They were leaders of the Reconstruction Era in US history

Teaching Activities (Free)

When the Impossible Suddenly Became Possible: A Reconstruction Mixer

Teaching Activity. By Adam Sanchez and Nqobile Mthethwa. 25 pages.
A mixer role play that explores the connections between different social movements during Reconstruction.

Articles

Freedom’s Unfinished Revolution: Teaching a People’s History of Reconstruction

Background Reading for Teachers. By Bill Bigelow. 4 pages.
A review of Freedom’s Unfinished Revolution, a collection of primary documents for high school on the Civil War and Reconstruction.

Books: Non-Fiction

Black Reconstruction in America

Book – Non-fiction. By W. E. B. Du Bois. Introduction by David Levering Lewis. 2014. 623 pages.
Originally published in 1935, Du Bois’ Black Reconstruction was the first book to challenge the prevailing racist historical narrative of the era and in sharp, incisive prose, tell the story of the Civil War and Reconstruction from the perspective of African Americans.