Charles Caldwell (politician) explained

Charles Caldwell (1830 or 1831 – December 25, 1875) was a Reconstruction era political and state militia leader in Mississippi.^[1] He held office as a state senator and county commissioner before being assassinated in 1875.^[2]

A former slave, he was a delegate to Mississippi's 1868 Constitutional Convention.^[3] He worked as a blacksmith in Clinton, Mississippi, a small town about 12 miles from Jackson in Hinds County, Mississippi.^{[4] [3]}

Political violence in Clinton included the Clinton Riot after a political rally of African Americans. Governor Adelbert Ames authorized a militia in response and put Caldwell in charge of it in Clinton but later backed down and disbanded it.

The U.S. Congress reported on election violence and Caldwell's assassination.^[5] A plaque commemorates his life.^[6]

See also

• African-American officeholders during and following the Reconstruction era

Further reading

• Steven J. Niven, “Caldwell, Charles”. African American National Biography, edited by Henry Louis Gates Jr., Oxford African American Studies Center

External links

• His life is retold in the 1949 radio drama "The Story of 1875", a presentation from Destination Freedom, written by Richard Durham

Notes and References

1. Web site: Charles Caldwell – Against All Odds.
2. Web site: Caldwell, Charles. Mississippi Encyclopedia.
3. Web site: Charles Caldwell (ca. 1831–1875) •. Zuzanna. Wisniewska. December 2, 2018.
4. Mississippi Reconstruction and the Negro Leader Charles Caldwell. Aptheker, Herbert. 1947. Science & Society. 11. 4. 340–371. 40399859. JSTOR.
5. Mississippi in 1875: Report of the Select Committee to Inquire into the Mississippi Election of 1875, United States Congress, Washington D.C., Government Printing Office (1876)
6. Web site: Charles Caldwell (ca. 1831–1875) . December 2, 2018.