America's First Serving African-American Governor Takes Office (1872)

Born to a former slave and a white planter, Pinckney Pinchback was America’s first African-American governor. During the American Civil War, he raised and led a company of black Union volunteers, called the Corps d’Afrique, in Union-held New Orleans. After the war, he was elected to the Louisiana senate and served as lieutenant governor. In 1872, he became governor when Henry Warmoth was impeached. How long was it before another African American held a gubernatorial office in the US? Discuss

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