Benjamin Pelham
{{short description|American politician}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2025}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Benjamin Burnside Pelham
| image = Benjamin Burnside Pelham.png
| other_names = B.B. Pelham,
Benj. B. Pelham,
Ben Pelham
| birth_date = February 7, 1862
| birth_place = Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
| death_date = 1948
| occupation = Lawyer, accountant, political organizer, journalist, newspaper publisher
| relatives = Robert Pelham Jr. (brother),
Meta E. Pelham (sister)
}}
Benjamin Burnside Pelham (1862–1948) was an American lawyer, accountant, political organizer, journalist, and newspaper publisher.{{Cite web|url=https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/pelham-benjamin-1862-1948/|title=Benjamin Pelham (1862-1948) •|first=Jonathan|last=Bradley|date=December 30, 2010}}{{Cite web |title=Benjamin Burnside Pelham |url=https://digitalcollections.detroitpubliclibrary.org/islandora/object/islandora:257764 |website=Digital Collections Detroit Public Library (DPL DAMS)}}
Biography
Benjamin Burnside Pelham was born on February 7, 1862, in Detroit, Michigan.{{Cite book |last=Penn |first=Irvine Garland |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y80OAAAAIAAJ |title=The Afro-American Press and Its Editors |date=1891 |publisher=Willey & Company |isbn=978-0-598-58268-3 |pages=161–162 |language=en}} He attended Everett School in Detroit, followed by Detroit High School.
He was a journalist and edited the newspapers The Venture and Detroit Plaindealer. He served as president of the county's Board of Supervisors and was one of the most powerful African American politicians in the United States during the early 1900s.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i-mFAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA21|title=Detroit Divided|first1=Reynolds|last1=Farley|first2=Sheldon|last2=Danziger|first3=Harry J.|last3=Holzer|date=May 25, 2000|publisher=Russell Sage Foundation|isbn=9781610441988|via=Google Books}} Aris A. Mallas wrote Forty Years in Politics - The Story of Ben Pelham (Wayne State University Press, 1957) about him.{{Cite web |title=Forty years in politics; the story of Ben Pelham., by Aris A. Mallas | The Online Books Page |url=http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/lookupid?key=ha001265218 |website=onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu}}
References
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Category:County officials in Michigan
Category:Editors of Michigan newspapers
Category:African-American people in Michigan politics
Category:Politicians from Detroit
Category:20th-century American newspaper publishers (people)
Category:19th-century American newspaper editors
Category:19th-century American newspaper publishers (people)
Category:20th-century American newspaper editors
Category:20th-century American politicians
Category:African-American journalists
{{Michigan-politician-stub}}