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Caesar Perkins

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Caesar Perkins (March 1839 – September 22, 1910) was a member of the Virginia General Assembly, elected in both 1869 and 1887. He represented Buckingham County as a Republican.

Early life

Caesar Perkins was born into slavery in March 1839.[1] His name is sometimes rendered as Ceasar Perkins.[2] His parents' names were Joseph and Clarcy Mosely, but he used the name "Perkins" because it was the name of his master.[3] It is not known how Perkins was freed from slavery.[4]

He was a Baptist minister.[3]

Political career

In 1869, Perkins was elected to the Virginia General Assembly, and he was elected again in 1887; in both cases, he represented Buckingham County.[3] In his first election, he defeated candidates from the Conservative Party.[5] He was a Republican.[5] During his first term, he voted to ratify the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution, which codified racial equality.[6]

In 1898, Perkins served at the state's Republican convention, which nominated Colonel R. T. Hubard (or Hubbard) for Congress.[7] Hubard denied that Perkins had been promised anything for the nomination.[8] Two years later, Perkins served again at the state's Republican convention, which again nominated Hubard for Congress.[9]

According to a newspaper account in 1904, he was the last-serving black member of the Virginia legislature.[10] The same story, which caricatured what the writers called his "genuine darky dialect" (for instance, rendering part of his speech as "Yawl Democrats [...] is 'bout ter let dis assembly break up widout keepin' yo' promis' ter pass on de licker question"), was reprinted years later in other newspapers.[11]

Death

Perkins died on September 22, 1910.[5]

See also

References

Citations

  1. ^ Hahn 2003, p. 371; Robinette 2021.
  2. ^ Cromwell 1920, p. 470.
  3. ^ a b c Ingram & White 2005, p. 38.
  4. ^ Wolfe 2015, p. 9.
  5. ^ a b c Robinette 2021.
  6. ^ Goff 2019.
  7. ^ Lexington Gazette 1898, p. 2.
  8. ^ Hubard 1898, p. 3.
  9. ^ Staunton Spectator and Vindicator 1900, p. 3.
  10. ^ Pittsburg Press 1904, p. 6.
  11. ^ Long Branch Daily Record 1907, p. 6.

Bibliography

Scholarship

  • Cromwell, J. W. (1920). "RE: Richmond Planet". Letter to C. G. Woodson. Journal of Negro History. doi:10.2307/2713683. Retrieved August 10, 2022.
  • Goff, Lisa (June 27, 2019). "In path of pipeline, descedents of freedmen fight to preserve historic Virginia". Platform. Retrieved August 10, 2022.
  • Hahn, Steven (2003). A nation under our feet: Black political struggles in the rural South, from slavery to the great migration. Belknap Press.
  • Ingram, E. Renée; White, Charles W. (2005). Buckingham County (illustrated ed.). Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 9780738518428.
  • Robinette, Dustin Landon (December 22, 2021). "Caesar Perkins (1839–1910)". Encyclopedia Virginia. Retrieved August 10, 2022.
  • Wolfe, Brendan (2015). "In search of freedom: African Americans after the Civil War". VFH Views. p. 9.

Newspapers

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