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African American politician of Natchez, Mississippi, first black mayor (1844–?) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Robert H. Wood (c. 1844–?) was an African American 19th-century politician, postmaster, and sheriff.[1][2] He served as the first African American Mayor of Natchez, Mississippi from 1870 until 1871,[3][4] and was part of the Adams County Board of Supervisors from 1871 to 1872.[5] He was one of only five black mayors in the American South during the Reconstruction-era; and is thought to be the first black mayor in the United States.[6][7]
Robert H. Wood was born in about 1844, his mother was a free African American and his father was a Euro-American former mayor of Natchez.[4]
In 1865, he worked at a photographic printshop with John R. Lynch, Wood and Lynch formed a relationship at the printshop that followed them in to later life,[3] and Lynch also went on to serve in political office.[5] Wood owned a 36-acre farm in 1870.[5]
Wood was appointed Mayor of Natchez in 1869 during the Reconstruction era by governor James Alcorn, and elected to the office in 1870.[1] Wood lost his reelection campaign in 1871. He served on the Adams County Board of Supervisors from 1871 to 1872; elected as postmaster from 1874 to 1876; and in 1875 he elected sheriff and also as the tax collector of Adams County.[3][5] Wood was the second African American elected as sheriff in Adams County, following William McCary.[3]
Wood worked alongside Robert W. Fitzhugh, and they managed Lynch's successful 1870 campaign for United States Congress for Mississippi's 6th congressional district.[5] Wood was a member of the Freemasons.[8] He was involved in establishing the first school for African Americans in Natchez in 1871.[1][7] Isaac Lowenberg, who was Jewish, was elected the city's mayor in 1882.[9]
In 2004, the next African American mayor of the city was elected, Phillip West,[7] and he paid tribute to Wood in a 2016 short history film.[10]
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