Jonathan Jasper Wright
Jonathan Jasper Wright | |
|---|---|
 Jonathan Jasper Wright (c. 1870) | |
| Associate Justice of the South Carolina Supreme Court | |
| In office January 30, 1870 – December 1, 1877 | |
| Preceded by | Solomon L. Hoge |
| Succeeded by | Alexander Cheves Haskell |
| Member of the South Carolina Senate from Beaufort County | |
| In office November 24, 1868 – January 30, 1870 | |
| Preceded by | Richard J. Davant |
| Succeeded by | Robert Smalls |
| Personal details | |
| Born | February 11, 1840 Luzerne, Pennsylvania |
| Died | February 18, 1885 (aged 45) Charleston, South Carolina |
Jonathan Jasper Wright (February 11, 1840 – February 18, 1885) was an African-American lawyer who served as a state senator and judge on the Supreme Court of the State of
Biography
Wright was born on February 11, 1840, in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania.[1] When he was about six years old his parents moved to Montrose, Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania. He attended the district school during the winter months, working for the neighboring farmers the rest of the year.
He saved up a small sum of money and entered
In April 1865, Wright was sent by the American Missionary Society to Beaufort, South Carolina, as a teacher and laborer among the freed slaves. He remained in Beaufort until the Civil Rights Act passed. Then he returned to Montrose, Pennsylvania, and demanded an examination for the Bar. The Committee found him qualified, and recommended his admission to the Bar. He was admitted August 13, 1865, and was the first African American admitted to practice law in Pennsylvania.
In April 1866, Wright was appointed by General Oliver Otis Howard, head of the Freedmen's Bureau in Beaufort, to be the legal adviser for the freedmen. In July 1868 he was elected to the Constitutional Convention of South Carolina. He was the convention vice-president and helped draft the judiciary section of the State Constitution, which remains today. Wright was soon afterward elected state senator from Beaufort County. On February 1, 1870, he was elected to the South Carolina Supreme Court. He served for seven years, until the white Democrats regained control of state government in 1877. Wright left the Court and entered into private practice in Charleston. He died of tuberculosis in 1885.
The
In 1997, portrait artist Larry Francis Lebby was commissioned to produce a painting of Wright, which was unveiled in the South Carolina Supreme Court building in Columbia, South Carolina.[5] [6]
Notes
- S2CID 150315666.
- ^ "The Crisis". November 1974.
- ^ "United States Law Review". 1885.
- ^ "South Carolina's 1868 Radical members of the Legislature".
- ^ "ARTIST RESCUES LAWYER FROM PAGES OF HISTORY\ LARRY LEBBY HOPES HIS PORTRAIT CAPTURES THE SPIRIT OF JONATHAN JASPER WRIGHT". Greensboro News and Record. February 27, 1998. Retrieved February 28, 2024.
- ^ "Honorable Jonathan Jasper Wright". University of South Carolina Law School. 2024. Retrieved February 28, 2024.
See also
- List of African-American jurists
- List of first minority male lawyers and judges in South Carolina
References
- Hine, William C. (1999), "Wright, Jonathan Jasper", in OCLC 39182280.
- Holt, Thomas (1977), Black over White: Negro Political Leadership in South Carolina during Reconstruction, OCLC 2964308.
- Picture and text from Harper's Weekly, March 5, 1870, p. 149.
- Oldenfield, J. R. (1989), "A High and Honorable Calling: Black Lawyers in South Carolina, 1868–1915", Journal of American Studies, 23 (3): 395–406, OCLC 22222229.
- Rogers, George C. Jr. (1992), Generations of Lawyers: A History of the South Carolina Bar, OCLC 27192809.
- Tindall, George B. (2003), South Carolina Negroes, 1877–1900, OCLC 51151417.
- Williamson, Joel (1965), After Slavery: The Negro in South Carolina during Reconstruction, 1861–1877, OCLC 335753.
- Woody, R. H. (April 1933), "Jonathan Jasper Wright, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of South Carolina, 1870–77", S2CID 150315666.
External links
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| National | |
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