John Hannibal White Explained

John Hannibal White (c. 1828 – July 26, 1878) was a delegate to South Carolina's 1868 Constitutional Convention, a two-term member of the South Carolina House of Representatives, and a state senator in South Carolina. He worked as a blacksmith.^[1]

White was enslaved from birth.^[2]

During the Civil War he would read updates to members of his community in York County, South Carolina.^[3] A photograph of him was part of a composite image of African American "Radical Republican" members of the South Carolina Legislature.^[4]

Additional reading

• South Carolina Negro Legislators: a Glorious Success: State and Local Officeholders; Biographies of Negro Representatives, 1868–1902 by Lawrence Chesterfield Bryant, South Carolina State College, 1974
• Biographical Directory of the South Carolina House of Representatives

Faunt, J.S.R. and Rector, R.E., with Bowden, D.K. Session lists, 1692–1973 by Walter B. Edgar, N. Louise Bailey, University of South Carolina Press, 1974

Notes and References

1. Book: West, Jerry L.. The Bloody South Carolina Election of 1876: Wade Hampton III, the Red Shirt Campaign for Governor and the End of Reconstruction. January 10, 2014. McFarland. 9780786459841. Google Books.
2. Book: Biographical Directory of the South Carolina Senate, 1776–1985. N. Louise. Bailey. Mary L.. Morgan. Carolyn R.. Taylor. January 5, 1986. University of South Carolina Press. 9780872494794. Google Books.
3. Book: The Reconstruction Ku Klux Klan in York County, South Carolina, 1865–1877. 9780786412587. West. Jerry Lee. January 2002.
4. Web site: Radical Members of the South Carolina Legislature. Smithsonian Institution.