Moses Hepburn
{{Short description|American politician and businessperson (1832–1897)}}
{{Use American English|date=December 2022}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Moses Garrison Hepburn
| image = Moses Garrison Hepburn (1832–1897) of West Chester, Pennsylvania.jpg
| birth_date = c. 1832
| birth_place = Alexandria, Virginia, US
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1897|12|01|1832}}
| death_place = West Chester, Pennsylvania, US
| occupation = Politician, innkeeper, businessperson
| known_for = First African American town councilor of West Chester
| party = Republican Party
}}
Moses Garrison Hepburn Jr. (c. 1832 – December 1, 1897) was an American politician, innkeeper, and businessman elected as the first African American town councilor of West Chester, Pennsylvania, in 1882.{{Cite book |last= |first= |url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/008651813 |title=West Chester, Past and Present: Centennial Souvenir with Celebration Proceedings |publisher=Daily Local News |year=1899 |location=West Chester, PA |pages=appendix 109 |language=en-US |via=HathiTrust}} In 1866, he founded the Magnolia House, the borough's only inn catering to African Americans, where he hosted Frederick Douglass and other Black luminaries.{{Cite book |last=Appeals |first=Virginia Supreme Court of |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YApIAQAAMAAJ&dq=Moses+Hepburn&pg=PA558 |title=Reports of Cases in the Supreme Court of Appeals of Virginia |date=1860 |publisher=D. Bottom, Superintendent of Public Print. |language=en}}
Early life and family
His father, also Moses Hepburn, was the natural son of William Hepburn, a wealthy white slaveholder, and Esther, an enslaved woman, both from Alexandria, Virginia. His slaveholder father manumitted the mother and son and provided for them in his will. Moses Hepburn Sr. consequently became the wealthiest African American in Northern Virginia and erected the historic Moses Hepburn Rowhouses in Alexandria in 1856. When Hepburn Jr. was born in 1832, his father sent him to Pennsylvania to receive an education. The family moved to West Chester in 1853 after the US government retroceded Alexandria to Virginia in 1847. Virginia threatened the Hepburns with enforcement of the state's anti-literacy laws banning education of Black people.{{Cite journal |last=Bussel |first=Robert |date=1998 |title="The Most Indispensable Man in His Community": African-American Entrepreneurs in West Chester, Pennsylvania, 1865-1925 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/27774120 |journal=Pennsylvania History: A Journal of Mid-Atlantic Studies |volume=65 |issue=3 |pages=324–349 |jstor=27774120 |issn=0031-4528 }}{{Cite web |title=A Remarkable and Courageous Journey: Guide to Alexandria's African American History |url=https://media.alexandriava.gov/docs-archives/historic/info/blackhistory/bhcourageousjourney.pdf |archive-url= |archive-date= |access-date=August 11, 2022 |website=Alexandria Convention & Visitors Association |pages=8–9}}
Business career
In 1866, Hepburn Jr. established the Magnolia House, a three-story brick inn with nineteen rooms located on 300 East Miner Street in the predominantly African American Georgetown district of West Chester. The Magnolia House was the only lodging and tavern in the borough that catered to African Americans, whom de facto racial segregation excluded from similar local establishments. Frederick Douglass, William H. Day, and other Black luminaries lodged at the Magnolia when in town.{{Cite web |date=January 21, 2020 |title=Moses G. Hepburn and the Magnolia House |url=https://www.chesco.org/Blog.aspx?IID=13&ARC=145 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220812014233/https://www.chesco.org/Blog.aspx?IID=13&ARC=145 |archive-date=August 12, 2022 |access-date=August 12, 2022 |website=County of Chester}}
In addition to the Magnolia House, Hepburn ran an omnibus service and owned a livery stable, a 56-acre farm, and eleven other properties. He was prominent in the town's African American community as a member of the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, the Liberty Coronet Band, the Knights Templar, and the Free and Accepted Masons. Due to his community engagement, flourishing businesses, and extensive properties, Hepburn became the "wealthiest and best known colored man in Chester county," with a net worth exceeding $29,000 at his death.
Political career
During the 1870s, Republican Party leaders in West Chester sought Black votes but refused to consider Black candidates for elected office. After warnings that the African American community would boycott elections or vote for Democratic candidates, Republicans agreed to a wards system that could enable Black representation for the town's eastward of Georgetown. Hepburn won the 1882 election for the borough council representative by a single vote.{{Cite web |last=Pirro |first=J. F. |date=July 10, 2008 |title=Power to the People: West Chester's Long-Neglected East End Finds Its Champions |url=https://mainlinetoday.com/life-style/home-garden/frontline-neighborhood-2-2/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220812014514/https://mainlinetoday.com/life-style/home-garden/frontline-neighborhood-2-2/ |archive-date=August 12, 2022 |access-date=August 12, 2022 |website=Main Line Today |language=en-US}} He served one two-year term, serving on the council's gas and police committees, and was followed by a succession of four other African American councilors over the ensuing decade.
In 1892, the Republican Party machine, which dominated West Chester politics, switched to an at-large electoral system, diluting the Black vote and eliminating African American representation on the borough council for nearly 75 years. The party committee passed the motion on a 9–7 vote without a quorum.
Personal life
References
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Category:Pennsylvania Republicans
Category:Politicians from Alexandria, Virginia
Category:Businesspeople from Alexandria, Virginia
Category:People from West Chester, Pennsylvania
Category:African-American city council members in Pennsylvania
Category:19th-century African-American politicians