Samuel A. McElwee (1857-1914) was a lawyer and politician in the United States. He was born enslaved in 1857 in Haywood County, Tennessee. His parents were Robert and Georgianna McElwee. He became a lawyer and the most influential Republican Party leader in Haywood County following the

Reconstruction era The Reconstruction era was a period in American history following the American Civil War (1861–1865) and lasting until approximately the Compromise of 1877. During Reconstruction, attempts were made to rebuild the country after the bloo ...

. He served in the

Tennessee General Assembly The Tennessee General Assembly (TNGA) is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is a part-time bicameral legislature consisting of a Senate and a House of Representatives. The Speaker of the Senate carries the additional title ...

from 1883 to 1888. He was the first African American to serve three terms in legislature and also the first one to be nominated as the Speaker of the House.

Early life

After emancipation, his family moved to a farm in Haywood County in 1866. He attended Freedmen's Bureau Schools. He reported being taught to read as a young child by his former slave master's children, and moved quickly through school. In 1875, he attended

Oberlin College Oberlin College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Oberlin, Ohio. It is the oldest Mixed-sex education, coeducational liberal arts college in the United S ...

in Ohio for a year. Then he returned to the South and taught at a school for three years. He studied Latin, German, and mathematics with a Vanderbilt student whose recommendation got him a Peabody Scholarship to

Fisk University Fisk University is a private historically black liberal arts college in Nashville, Tennessee. It was founded in 1866 and its campus is a historic district listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In 1930, Fisk was the first Africa ...

. In 1878, he enrolled at Fisk and graduated in 1883.

Career

While still a student at the university, he got elected to the General Assembly from Haywood County. He opened up a grocery store in Haywood County and started reading law on his own. While serving in the legislature he attended the law school of Central Tennessee College in

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and the ...

, and obtained a law degree in 1886. During his second term in 1885, he was nominated by then former U.S. Senator

Roderick R. Butler Roderick Randum Butler (April 9, 1827 – August 18, 1902) was an American politician who represented Tennessee's 1st district in the United States House of Representatives from 1867 to 1875, and again from 1887 to 1889. He also served several t ...

to be the speaker of the House of Representatives, and received 32 of the 93 votes. He was the head of the Tennessee Republican Convention and was a delegate to the national convention in Chicago in 1884. He was the first African American to be elected three times for a legislative term in Tennessee. He had spoken at the

Tuskegee Institute Tuskegee University (Tuskegee or TU), formerly known as the Tuskegee Institute, is a private, historically black land-grant university in Tuskegee, Alabama. It was founded on Independence Day in 1881 by the state legislature. The campus was de ...

as a commencement speaker in 1887. During the same year, in his third term he proposed a bill that would ensure fairer jury selection. The bill was tabled by a vote of 41–36. He served during an era when

Jim Crow The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws enforcing racial segregation in the Southern United States. Other areas of the United States were affected by formal and informal policies of segregation as well, but many states outside the Sout ...

ism was in effect. In 1888, he campaigned for a fourth term, but was not elected. This was due to voting fraud and

intimidation Intimidation is to "make timid or make fearful"; or to induce fear. This includes intentional behaviors of forcing another person to experience general discomfort such as humiliation, embarrassment, inferiority, limited freedom, etc and the victi ...

. McElwee and his family left Haywood County because of violence against African Americans. He established a newspaper and a law firm in Nashville, but he and his family moved to Chicago in July 1901. He started a law practice there and spent the rest of his life there. He died in Chicago on October 21, 1914.

References

* Gonzalez, Anthony.
LibGuides: Website-homepage: Home
. ''tnstate.libguides.com''. Retrieved 2023-01-09. * Laska, Lewis L.
Samuel A. McElwee"
. ''The Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture''. ''web.archive.org''. 2007-09-30. Retrieved 2023-01-09. *

''This Honorable Body: African American Legislators in 19th Century Tennessee - Biographies, Tennessee State Archive''. ''web.archive.org''. 2010-05-28. Retrieved 2023-01-09. {{DEFAULTSORT:McElwee, Samuel A. 1857 births 1914 deaths American freedmen 19th-century American slaves Oberlin College alumni African-American state legislators in Tennessee Tennessee Republicans People from Haywood County, Tennessee Farmers from Tennessee Schoolteachers from Tennessee Fisk University alumni Illinois lawyers Tennessee lawyers Walden University (Tennessee) alumni 19th-century American lawyers 20th-century African-American people 19th-century African-American lawyers

Early life

Career

See also

References