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Virginia Governor L. Douglas Wilder |
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The first elected African American Governor in U.S. History
Former Virginia Governor L. Douglas Wilder is a twenty-year veteran of Virginia politics, Gov. Wilder was the first African American elected to the Virginia State Senate in modern times. When he was elected lieutenant governor in 1985, he became the highest-ranking African American state official in the nation. He became the first elected African American governor in U.S. history in January, 1990, and in 1992 was a Democratic candidate for the presidential nomination. His gubernatorial term expired in 1994.
Wilder graduated from Virginia Union University in Richmond in 1951 with a B.S. degree in chemistry. He was drafted into the United States Army and received the Bronze Star during the Korean Warfor heroism in ground combat.
He had to leave Virginia to take advantage of the GI Bill to study law, because the state barred African Americans from its law schools at the time. He studied instead at Howard University Law School, then returned to Richmond to establish the private practice that developed into his political career.
Gov. Wilder has most recently been active in helping establish The National Slavery Museum in Fredericksburg. He also writes a newspaper column, lectures to audiences nationwide, and serves as a distinguished professor at the Center for Public Policy and the department of political science at Virginia Commonwealth University.
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