James LeRoy Baxter (June 13, 1881 – December 9, 1954) was a dentist / oral surgeon and state legislator in New Jersey. He was elected to represent

Essex County, New Jersey Essex County is located in the northeastern part of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the county's population was 863,728, making it the state's second-most populous county, behind Bergen and Middlesex Counties.

in the New Jersey General Assembly in 1928. Born in

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area.Barringer High School Barringer Academy of the Arts & Humanities (formerly Barringer High School and Newark High School), is a four-year comprehensive public high school serving students in ninth through twelfth grades in Newark, in Essex County, New Jersey, United ...

. He was the son of James Miller Baxter who served as principal of the Newark's "Colored" school for 45 years. He was elected as a

Republican Party Republican Party is a name used by many political parties around the world, though the term most commonly refers to the United States' Republican Party. Republican Party may also refer to: Africa *Republican Party (Liberia) * Republican Part ...

as one of 12 representatives from Essex County, in a General Assembly that had 60 members. While in the Assembly, he was the only Black member and worked with the

NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E.&nb ...

and others to oppose a bill that had been introduced by a legislator in Monmouth County to ban marriage between partners of different "races". He married

Ernest Mae McCarroll Ernest Mae McCarroll (November 29, 1898 – 1990), a physician in New Jersey, was one of the United States' first African American physicians. She grew up in Birmingham, Alabama, though her education took her through several cities and states. In ...

, a doctor from Alabama, in 1929. She moved to Newark. In the runup to the

1932 United States presidential election The 1932 United States presidential election was the 37th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 8, 1932. The election took place against the backdrop of the Great Depression. Incumbent Republican President Herbert Hoover w ...

, he spoke at a rally as a former Republican Assemblyman and told a crowd of 250 Black Democrats in Red Bank that the historic overwhelming Black support of Republicans had not brought jobs and other benefits for the Black community and that they should support the Democratic candidates in that year's elections. In 1940, ''The Crisis'' reported on a meeting held where he was branch president of a civil rights organization. In 1953, Baxter moved to

Fontana, California Fontana is a city in San Bernardino County, California. Founded by Azariel Blanchard Miller in 1913, it remained essentially rural until World War II, when entrepreneur Henry J. Kaiser built a large steel mill in the area. It is now a regional h ...

. He died in a San Bernardino hospital on December 9, 1954.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baxter, LeRoy 1881 births 1954 deaths Barringer High School alumni African-American dentists Republican Party members of the New Jersey General Assembly Politicians from Newark, New Jersey People from Fontana, California 20th-century African-American politicians 20th-century American dentists 20th-century American legislators 20th-century New Jersey politicians