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Wright, c. 1870.

Jonathan Jasper Wright (February 11, 1840 – February 18 1885) was an African American politician and jurist who served as a judge on the Supreme Court of the State of South Carolina during Reconstruction from 1870 to 1877.

Wright holds the distinction of being the first African American state supreme court justice in history.[1]

Early life[edit]

Wright was born to freed slaves, according to Woody 1933, in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. Little is known about his parents, except that his father was a farmer.[2] 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. Having saved up a small sum of money, he entered Lancasterian University in Ithaca, in New York. After graduating from Lancasterian with a degree in the late 1850s,[3] Wright returned to the village where his parents resided, and entered the office of the law firm Bently, Fith and Bently, where he studied law for two years, supporting himself by teaching.[4] He subsequently entered the office of Judge O. Collins, in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, with whom he studied law for another year.[4][5] Feeling himself qualified for the legal profession, he applied for admission to the bar in 1865; but so great was the existing prejudice against African Americans that the Committee refused to examine him.[4][5][6]

Early political activism and entrance into the bar[edit]

Wright attended the 1864 national black convention in Syracuse, New York, which supported abolitionism and universal suffrage, and endorsed equality for all in law.[7] After the Civil War ended in April 1865, Wright was sent by the American Missionary Society to Beaufort, South Carolina, to teach newly freed slaves and soldiers of the 128th Regiment Infantry U.S. Colored Troops.[7] In November 1865, Wright was a delegate to the Colored Peoples' Convention in Charleston. In response to the recent decision of an all-male, all-white state constitutional convention to consider blacks as second class citizens through the a series of laws known as the Black Codes, the Colored Peoples' Convention proclaimed their support for the enfranchisement of black men and the abolition of the black code.[7] Wright denounced the Black Codes, believing that they deprived "the colored people of all and every opportunity of being elevated an iota above their former condition. They were left totally at the mercy of the white man."[7]

Wright remained in Beaufort until the Civil Rights Act of 1866 was passed, upon which, he returned to Montrose, Pennsylvania, and demanded a bar examination.[8] The Committee found him qualified, and recommended his admission to the Bar. He was admitted to the bar on August 13, 1866,[4][9] believed to have become the first African American admitted to practice law in Pennsylvania.[8][10] After returning to Beaufort in late 1866, Wright was appointed by General Oliver O. Howard,[11] head of the Freedmen's Bureau, to represent the interests of former slaves and act as legal adviser to Robert Kingston Scott, the Freedmen's Bureau head in South Carolina. Amidst reports that some bureau agents had been working with white planters and ignoring the requests of freed slaves, Wright remarked that he would not perform services for white men. "Had I been contented to settle down, and been what the masses of white persons desired me to be (a boot-blacker, a barber, or a hotel waiter) I would have been heard of less."[7] He resigned from the Freedmen's Bureau in 1868,[12] since his work was complete and he expressed a desire to enter politics. As the only black lawyer in South Carolina at the time, he was elected a member of the Constitutional Convention of South Carolina, which was held in Charleston in January 1868.[13] He was selected as one of the convention's five vice presidents and helped draft the judiciary section of the State Constitution. He vocalized his thoughts in a succinct and straightforward manner, and helped alleviate the concerns of radical black members of the convention. He opposed the appointment of Supreme Court judges by the governor without confirmation from the senate. He believed that the people, through the legislature, should determine the appointment of judges to the Supreme Court. Wright also believed that judges should be limited to 10 years on the Supreme Court bench, instead of lifelong tenure.[13] During the Convention, Wright stated:

We have in our ranks but a few men of legal experience, capable of discharging the high duties incumbent upon a Judge.... There are men in the legal profession, men of ability and experience, liberal men, who are now ready to get upon the reconstruction train, and acknowledge the principles of progress and civilization, were it not for the fear of the prejudice of that public opinion which is opposed to our plan of reconstruction. Whenever these men come in and advocate the cause of humanity and justice, they will naturally be sought for to run the machinery of our State government ... and we are ready and anxious to receive them, and place them in those high positions."[14]

Wright was also concerned about the state of the educational system in South Carolina. He was staunchly opposed to integration of public schools, stating that he did not "believe the colored children will want to go to the white schools, or vice versa."[7] He attracted some controversy when he supported the adoption of a one dollar poll tax, the proceeds of which would go into funding for the state's educational system. Both he and Francis Lewis Cardozo opined that the tax was essential to financing the public education system, while others, such as Robert B. Elliott, believed that a poll tax would prevent a large percentage of the black population from participating in elections. In the end, the convention decided that it was best not to include a poll tax in the constitution. Some of Wright's other proposals were included in the state constitution, such as fixed terms and legislative elections for Supreme Court judges.[7]

State Senator[edit]

As a member of the Republican Party since the passage of the Reconstruction Act, Wright tried to attract experienced politicians to the party, who he believed would be more successful in leading the government than inexperienced black politicians.[13] Shortly after the Constitutional Convention, Wright was elected Senator from Beaufort County.[15] He quickly emerged as a eminent figure in state politics. He established himself as the most able-minded black person in the state and even gained the respect of other Democratic politicians. The Charleston Daily News, a leading anti-Republican newspaper of the time, wrote glowingly of Wright, stating that he was a "very intelligent, well-spoken colored lawyer",[16] who had significantly bettered the lives of many through his work for the Freedmen's Bureau.[17] In 1869, Wright won a major $1,200 lawsuit against the Richmond and Danville Railroad, after he was removed from a first class, all-white coach by railroad officials on his way to Virginia.[7]

Appointment to the South Carolina Supreme Court[edit]

The South Carolina judicial system had been created by the South Carolina Constitution in 1868 to replace the state's court of appeals at law and equity and the court of errors, which existed under the provisional Reconstruction government. The state Supreme Court was to have an appellate jurisdiction only in chancery cases and was to constitute a "court for errors at law".[18] The Supreme Court was to consist of a "Chief Justice and two Associate Justices, two of whom shall constitute a quorum". They were to be elected by "a joint vote of the General Assembly for the term of six years and shall continue in office until their successors shall be elected and qualified".[19]


On February 1, 1870, he was elected to the South Carolina Supreme Court. He served for seven years and then entered into private practice in Charleston. He died in 1885.

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ Smith 1993, p. xi.
  2. ^ Woody 1933, p. 114.
  3. ^ Smith 1993, p. 152.
  4. ^ a b c d Woody 1933, p. 115.
  5. ^ a b Smith 1993, p. 153.
  6. ^ Styles 1937, p. 123.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h Hine 1999.
  8. ^ a b Styles 1937, p. 124.
  9. ^ The exact date of Wright's admittance into the bar is disputed. Woody 1933 uses August 13, 1866, while Styles 1937 writes that Wright had been admitted to the bar on August 13, 1865. Charles H. McKibben, a prothonotary of the Eastern District of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, reported that Wright had been admitted to the bar on January 17, 1859, after being sponsored to the bar "on motion of Benjamin W. Cumming". Smith 1993, p. 184.
  10. ^ Styles 1937 writes that Wright was the first African American admitted to the Pennsylvania state bar. Segal 1983 indicates that Isaac Parvis and Henry Johnson had been members of the bar in Pennsylvania in 1850, nearly 15 years before Wright.
  11. ^ "Judge J.J. Wright, of South Carolina", Harper's Weekly, p. p. 149, March 5, 1870 {{citation}}: |page= has extra text (help); Check date values in: |date= (help).
  12. ^ Charleston Weekly News and Courier, February 25, 1885.
  13. ^ a b c Woody 1933, p. 116.
  14. ^ Proceedings of the Constitutional Convention of South Carolina, held at Charleston, S.C., beginning January 14 and ending March 17, 1868, Charleston, South Carolina: Denny & Perry, 1868, pp. 599–600, OCLC 2417016.
  15. ^ Woody 1933, p. 117.
  16. ^ Charleston Daily News, July 26, 1867.
  17. ^ Charleston Daily News, January 15, 1868.
  18. ^ Woody 1933, p. 118.
  19. ^ The Constitution of South Carolina: Adopted April 16, 1868, and the Acts & Joint Resolutions of the Gen. Assembly Passed at the Special Session of 1868: Article IV, Columbia, South Carolina, OCLC 79284452.

References[edit]

External links[edit]


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