Black First of the Day

1884

John Roy Lynch (1847-1939)

John Roy Lynch (1847-1939) was elected chairman of the Republican National Convention on September 10, 1884, the first black to be elected to that post. An eloquent speaker, he was also the first black to deliver the keynote address to the convention. Lynch was the first black to preside over a national nominating convention held by a major political party. He was named temporary chairman of the Republican party meeting in Chicago. In 1869, when Lynch was only twenty-two years old, he was elected a member of the Mississippi State House of Representatives and in 1871 he was elected Speaker of the House. In 1873, he had become the first black congressman from Mississippi. Son of a slave mother and a white Louisiana planter, Lynch attended night school, worked as a photographer's assistant, began to dabble in politics, and at the age of twenty-four became speaker of the Mississippi House. He was elected U.S. congressman three times, and served with distinction from 1873 to 1877. He served the Republican Party as state chairman of the executive committee (1881-89) and received federal appointments (1898-1911) as a reward. He wrote an authoritative account of post Civil War period, The Facts of Reconstruction, in 1913.

Sources: Logan and Winston, Dictionary of American Negro Biography, pp. 407-9; Jet 88 (11 September 1995): 19; Robinson, Historical Negro Biographies, p. 98; Smith, Notable Black American Men, pp. 748-49.

From Black Firsts: 4,000 Ground-Breaking and Pioneering Events by Jessie Carney Smith, © 2013 Visible Ink Press®. A celebration of achievement, accomplishments and pride.