Caesar Perkins

Caesar Perkins was born into slavery in March 1839.{{sfnm|1a1=Hahn|1y=2003|1p=371|2a1=Robinette|2y=2021}} His name is sometimes rendered as Ceasar Perkins.{{sfn|Cromwell|1920|p=470}} His parents' names were Joseph and Clarcy Mosely, but he used the name "Perkins" because it was the name of his master.{{sfn|Ingram|White|2005|p=38}} It is not known how Perkins was freed from slavery.{{sfn|Wolfe|2015|p=9}}

He was a Baptist minister.{{sfn|Ingram|White|2005|p=38}}

In 1869, Perkins was elected to the Virginia General Assembly, and he was elected again in 1887; in both cases, he represented Buckingham County.{{sfn|Ingram|White|2005|p=38}} In his first election, he defeated candidates from the Conservative Party.{{sfn|Robinette|2021}} He was a Republican.{{sfn|Robinette|2021}} During his first term, he voted to ratify the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution, which codified racial equality.{{sfn|Goff|2019}}

In 1898, Perkins served at the state's Republican convention, which nominated Colonel R. T. Hubard (or Hubbard) for Congress.{{sfn|Lexington Gazette|1898|p=2}} Hubard denied that Perkins had been promised anything for the nomination.{{sfn|Hubard|1898|p=3}} Two years later, Perkins served again at the state's Republican convention, which again nominated Hubard for Congress.{{sfn|Staunton Spectator and Vindicator|1900|p=3}}

According to a newspaper account in 1904, he was the last-serving black member of the Virginia legislature.{{sfn|Pittsburg Press|1904|p=6}} The same story, which caricatured what the writers called his "genuine darky dialect" (for instance, rendering part of his speech as "Yawl Democrats [...] is 'bout ter let dis assembly break up widout keepin' yo' promis' ter pass on de licker question"), was reprinted years later in other newspapers.{{sfn|Long Branch Daily Record|1907|p=6}}

Perkins died on September 22, 1910.{{sfn|Robinette|2021}}

• African American officeholders from the end of the Civil War until before 1900

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• {{cite letter |last=Cromwell |first=J. W. |recipient=C. G. Woodson |subject=RE: Richmond Planet |date=1920 |doi=10.2307/2713683 |jstor=2713683 |url=https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/pdf/10.2307/2713683 |access-date=August 10, 2022 |publisher=Journal of Negro History}}
• {{cite magazine |last1=Goff |first1=Lisa |title=In path of pipeline, descedents of freedmen fight to preserve historic Virginia |url=https://www.platformspace.net/home/in-path-of-pipeline-descendants-of-freedmen-fight-to-preserve-historic-virginia |access-date=August 10, 2022 |magazine=Platform |date=June 27, 2019}}
• {{cite book |last=Hahn |first=Steven |title=A nation under our feet: Black political struggles in the rural South, from slavery to the great migration |publisher=Belknap Press |date=2003}}
• {{cite book |last1=Ingram |first1=E. Renée |last2=White |first2=Charles W. |title=Buckingham County |publisher=Arcadia Publishing |date=2005 |edition=illustrated |isbn=9780738518428}}
• {{cite encyclopedia |last=Robinette |first=Dustin Landon |title=Caesar Perkins (1839–1910) |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Virginia |date=December 22, 2021 |url=https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/perkins-caesar-1839-1910/ |access-date=August 10, 2022}}
• {{cite magazine |last=Wolfe |first=Brendan |title=In search of freedom: African Americans after the Civil War |magazine=VFH Views |date=2015 |page=9}}

• {{cite news |last=Hubard |first=R. T. |title=From Colonel Hubard |work=Staunton Spectator and Vindicator |date=November 17, 1898 |page=3}}

• {{cite news |title=Republican convention |work=Lexington Gazette |date=August 24, 1898 |page=2 |ref={{harvid|Lexington Gazette|1898}}}}
• {{cite news |title=Caesar Perkin's rat story |work=Long Branch Daily Record |date=June 15, 1907 |page=6 |ref={{harvid|Long Branch Daily Record|1907}}}}
• {{cite news |title=Caesar Perkins Aesop |work=Pittsburg Press |date=January 29, 1904 |page=6 |ref={{harvid|Pittsburg Press|1904}}}}
• {{cite news |title=Republicans nominate Hubard |work=Staunton Spectator and Vindicator |date=April 6, 1900 |page=3 |ref={{harvid|Staunton Spectator and Vindicator|1900}}}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Perkins, Caesar}}

Category:1839 births

Category:1910 deaths

Category:African-American politicians during the Reconstruction Era

Category:African-American state legislators in Virginia

Category:Republican Party members of the Virginia House of Delegates

Category:20th-century African-American politicians

Category:19th-century members of the Virginia General Assembly