Reuben Tomlinson

{{short description|American politician}}

Reuben H. Tomlinson was a lawyer, Freedmen Bureau official, and politician in South Carolina during the Reconstruction era.

Tomlinson was from Philadelphia.

He was appointed superintendent of education by the Freedmen Bureau in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1865.{{Cite web|url=http://img5.newspapers.com/clip/13650904/reuben-tomlinson-appointment-as-sup-of/|title=Reuben Tomlinson appointment as Sup. of Schools Oct 1865, South Carolina Leader, Charleston, South Carolina, October 7, 1865, page 2|website=Newspapers.com}} He expanded the number of schools and hired teachers.{{Cite web|url=https://lowcountryafricana.com/history-of-the-freedmens-bureau-in-south-carolina/|title=History of the Freedmen's Bureau in South Carolina|website=Lowcountry Africana}}

In October 1865 he toured Saxton School with Oliver Otis Howard and other Freedmen Bureau officials as well as dignitaries.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eiCwDQAAQBAJ&q=Reuben+Tomlinson+south+carolina&pg=PA200|title=Seizing the New Day: African Americans in Post-Civil War Charleston|first=Wilbert L.|last=Jenkins|date=May 15, 2003|publisher=Indiana University Press|isbn=9780253028297|via=pages 84, 191, 200}} He served as Superintendent of Education until October 1868. He was succeeded by Horace Neide and then Edward L. Deane.{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Xp4TAAAAYAAJ&q=Reuben+Tomlinson+south+carolina&pg=PA129|title=The Operation of the Freedmen's Bureau in South Carolina|first=Laura Josephine|last=Webster|date=June 4, 1916|publisher=Department of history of Smith college|via=Google Books}}

He served in the Georgia House of Representatives in 1870.{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9nVMAAAAYAAJ&q=Reuben+Tomlinson+south+carolina|title=Journal of the House of Representatives of the State of South-Carolina|date=June 4, 1870|publisher=The State|via=Google Books}} He was a candidate in the 1872 South Carolina gubernatorial election, running as an Independent Democrat.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eMjSqDFO42gC&q=Reuben+Tomlinson+south+carolina&pg=PA121|title=Encyclopedia of South Carolina|first=Nancy|last=Capace|date=January 1, 2000|publisher=Somerset Publishers, Inc.|isbn=9780403093472|via=Google Books}} He also served as state auditor.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=44uF943aw18C&q=reuben+tomlinson+south+carolina&pg=PA148|title=Moses of South Carolina: A Jewish Scalawag during Radical Reconstruction|first=Benjamin|last=Ginsberg|date=April 12, 2010|publisher=JHU Press|isbn=9780801899164|via=Google Books}}

Tomlinson is also credited as a contributor in the introduction and table of contents of Slave Songs of the United States, published in 1867 and known as the first book-length collection of African-American spirituals.Allen, William Francis et al. Slave Songs of the United States. New York: A. Simpson & Co., 1867, pp. xxxvii, xxxix.

The state of South Carolina has a collection of his correspondence from 1865 until 1867 when he was Superintendent of Education.[http://rediscov.sc.gov/scar/default.asp?IDCFile=DETAILSF.IDC,SPECIFIC=51425,DATABASE=FILEUNIT Correspondence of Superintendent Reuben H. Tomlinson Dates: 1865-1867], South Carolina. State Department of Education. Superintendent.

Series, Correspondence of Superintendent Reuben H. Tomlinson, 1865-1867

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