Caesar Perkins (March 1839 – September 22, 1910) was a member of the Virginia General Assembly, elected in both 1869 and 1887. He represented Buckingham County as a Republican.

Early life

Caesar Perkins was born into slavery in March 1839.^[1] His name is sometimes rendered as Ceasar Perkins.^[2] His parents' names were Joseph and Clarcy Mosely, but he used the name "Perkins" because it was the name of his master.^[3] It is not known how Perkins was freed from slavery.^[4]

He was a Baptist minister.^[3]

Political career

In 1869, Perkins was elected to the Virginia General Assembly, and he was elected again in 1887; in both cases, he represented Buckingham County.^[3] In his first election, he defeated candidates from the Conservative Party.^[5] He was a Republican.^[5] During his first term, he voted to ratify the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution, which codified racial equality.^[6]

In 1898, Perkins served at the state's Republican convention, which nominated Colonel R. T. Hubard (or Hubbard) for Congress.^[7] Hubard denied that Perkins had been promised anything for the nomination.^[8] Two years later, Perkins served again at the state's Republican convention, which again nominated Hubard for Congress.^[9]

According to a newspaper account in 1904, he was the last-serving black member of the Virginia legislature.^[10] 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.^[11]

Death

Perkins died on September 22, 1910.^[5]

See also

• African-American officeholders during and following the Reconstruction era

References