The gubernatorial appointment took place after Oscar J. Dunn, the first elected Black lieutenant governor, died in 1871. Pinchback served just over a month in the role and was elected to the State Senate in 1874. Because of his race, he was denied the seat and instead focused on his newspaper, The New Orleans Louisianan, and he served as a customs surveyor from 1882 to 1885, his last political appointment.
At the age of 50, Pinchback entered Straight University to study law and became a federal marshal in New York before settling for good in Washington, D.C. where he forged a connection with Booker T. Washington. Pinchback died at the age of 84 in 1921. His grandson, Jean Toomer, was a prominent Harlem Renaissance poet and writer.
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Little Known Black History Fact: P. B. S. Pinchback was originally published on blackamericaweb.com
