Pinckney Pinchback

Pinckney Pinchback

Born to a former slave in Georgia, Pinckney Pinchback lived in Ohio as a youth, but then moved to Union-controlled New Orleans during the Civil War.  He served on the executive committee of the Louisiana Republican Party and wrote the civil rights section of the 1868 state constitution.  That year, he was a delegate to the Republican National Convention and won a seat in the state senate.  His senate colleagues elected him president pro tem in 1871.

The office of Lt. Governor being vacant when the Governor was impeached, Pinchback served as Governor of Louisiana from November 1872 to January 1873.