The Rise and Fall of America's First Black Governor
Was Oscar Dunn Poisoned to Get Him Out of the Way?
I was researching another story when I ran across a reference to Virginia's Douglas Wilder as "America's first Black governor since Reconstruction." I instantly wondered who was a Black governor during Reconstruction, as there certainly weren't any before that period. I knew Mississippi, Louisiana, and Florida had elected statewide officials. I didn't know Louisiana had two Black men elevated to governor while serving as lieutenant governor for brief periods after the governor became ill. Oscar James Dunn was the first Black man to serve as governor for 39 days in 1871.
As you can imagine, white residents of Louisiana and elsewhere were none too happy about the election of Black people to elected positions—some of the places they got elected to weren't excited either. In 1868, John Willis Menard was the first Black man elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in a special election to fill the seat of a man who died. His white opponent challenged his election, and the House chose to leave the seat empty rather than fill it with a Black man for the 45 days remaining in the term.
