Jonathan Jasper Wright
Encyclopedia
South Carolina
South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...
during Reconstruction from 1870 to 1877.
Wright was born on February 11, 1840 in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania
Luzerne County, Pennsylvania
- Demographics :As of the 2010 census, the county was 90.7% White, 3.4% Black or African American, 0.2% Native American, 1.0% Asian, 3.3% were of some other race, and 1.5% were two or more races. 6.7% of the population was of Hispanic or Latino ancestry...
. When he was about six years old his parents removed to Montrose
Montrose, Pennsylvania
Montrose is a borough in Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, United States, north by west of Scranton, Pennsylvania. Montrose was laid out in 1812 and incorporated as a borough on March 19, 1824. Its name is a combination of "mont", the French word for “mountain” and Rose, for Dr. L R. Rose, a...
, Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania
Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 42,238 people, 16,529 households, and 11,785 families residing in the county. The population density was 51 people per square mile . There were 21,829 housing units at an average density of 26 per square mile...
. 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 the Lancasterian University, at Ithaca
Ithaca, New York
The city of Ithaca, is a city in upstate New York and the county seat of Tompkins County, as well as the largest community in the Ithaca-Tompkins County metropolitan area...
, in New York State. After a thorough course of study there returned to the village where his parents resided, and entered the office of a law firm, where he read law for two years, supporting himself by teaching. He subsequently entered the office of Judge Collins, in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania
Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania
Wilkes-Barre is a city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, the county seat of Luzerne County. It is at the center of the Wyoming Valley area and is one of the principal cities in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre metropolitan area, which had a population of 563,631 as of the 2010 Census...
, with whom he read law for another year. Feeling himself qualified for the legal profession, he applied for admission to the Bar; but so great was the existing prejudice against African Americans that the Committee refused to examine him.
In April 1865, Wright was sent by the American Missionary Society to Beaufort, South Carolina
Beaufort, South Carolina
Beaufort is a city in and the county seat of Beaufort County, South Carolina, United States. Chartered in 1711, it is the second-oldest city in South Carolina, behind Charleston. The city's population was 12,361 in the 2010 census. It is located in the Hilton Head Island-Beaufort Micropolitan...
, as a teacher and laborer among the freed slaves. He remained in Beaufort until the Civil Rights Act
Civil Rights Act of 1866
The Civil Rights Act of 1866, , enacted April 9, 1866, is a federal law in the United States that was mainly intended to protect the civil rights of African-Americans, in the wake of the American Civil War...
passed. Then he returned to Montrose, Pennsylvania, and demanded an examination. The Committee found him qualified, and recommended his admission to the Bar. He was admitted August 13, 1865, being the first African American admitted to practice law in Pennsylvania. In April, 1866, Wright was appointed by General Oliver Otis Howard, head of the Freedmen's Bureau, to be the legal adviser for the freedmen in Beaufort. In July 1868 he was elected to the Constitutional Convention of South Carolina. He was the convention vice-president and helped draft the judiciary section of the State Constitution, which remains today. Wright was soon afterward elected Senator from the county Beaufort. 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.