Charles W. Anderson Jr. (May 26, 1907 – June 14, 1960) was a lawyer, state legislator and civil rights leader in Kentucky. He served in the

Kentucky House of Representatives The Kentucky House of Representatives is the lower house of the Kentucky General Assembly. It is composed of 100 Representatives elected from single-member districts throughout the Commonwealth. Not more than two counties can be joined to form a ...

from 1936 until 1946.

Biography

Anderson was born May 26, 1907, in

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville is the List of cities in Kentucky, most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeastern United States, Southeast, and the list of United States cities by population, 27th-most-populous city ...

to Dr. Charles W. Anderson and Tabitha Murphy Anderson. His father was a doctor and his mother a schoolteacher. He attended Kentucky State College (now

Kentucky State University Kentucky State University (KSU, and KYSU) is a public historically black land-grant university in Frankfort, Kentucky. Founded in 1886 as the State Normal School for Colored Persons, and becoming a land-grant college in 1890, KSU is the second ...

) and graduated from

Wilberforce University Wilberforce University (WU) is a private university in Wilberforce, Ohio. It is one of three historically black universities established before the American Civil War. Founded in 1856 by the Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC), it is named after ...

in Ohio before moving to

Washington, D.C Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

to obtain his law degree from

Howard University School of Law Howard University School of Law (Howard Law or HUSL) is the law school of Howard University, a private, federally chartered historically black research university in Washington, D.C. It is one of the oldest law schools in the country and the old ...

. Anderson returned to Kentucky and was admitted to the bar February 1932. He then started his own law practice in Louisville in 1933. Around this time he became president of the

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is an American civil rights organization formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. B. Du&nbs ...

. In April 1935 Anderson decided to run for a seat in the Kentucky House representing the fifty-eighth district. He was a Republican and ran against four Democrats: Charles E. Tucker, Rev. Ernest Grundy, Dr. Richard P. Beckman and James D. Bailey. Anderson won the seat and was the only Republican to be elected to represent Jefferson County that session, a first for many years. He was the first African-American to be elected into the Kentucky legislature. He went on to serve six two-year sessions in total from 1936 until 1946. Anderson worked to pass legislation outlawing public hanging in Kentucky and to provide state aid for African Americans seeking higher degrees out-of-state due to Kentucky segregation laws. He also passed legislation equalizing the pay of teachers independent of skin color and allowing women to keep their positions as public school teachers after marriage. He helped establish new African American units in the

Kentucky National Guard The Kentucky National Guard comprises the: * Kentucky Army National Guard * Kentucky Air National Guard See also * Kentucky Active Militia, the state defense force of Kentucky which replaced the Kentucky National Guard during World War I and Worl ...

for the first time. While he was a representative he was one of several African-American lawyers to appeal the hanging of

Rainey Bethea Rainey Bethea ( – August 14, 1936), was the last person publicly executed in the United States. Bethea, who confessed to the rape and killing of a 70-year-old woman named Lischia Edwards, was convicted of her rape and publicly hanged in Owen ...

, who was the last person publicly executed in the United States, but on August 10, 1936, he announced that all appeals had been exhausted. Anderson served as president of the

National Negro Bar Association The National Negro Bar Association (NNBA) was the first national bar association for African-American lawyers in the United States. History The NNBA was founded in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1912. At the time, and for some thereafter, the Amer ...

for two terms starting in 1943. U.S. President

Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was the 34th president of the United States, serving from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, he was Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionar ...

appointed him an alternate delegate to the United Nations in the 1950s, and he served as the president of Louisville's NAACP branch. Anderson resigned from his seat in the house in 1946 to become the Assistant Commonwealth Attorney for Jefferson County, another first for an African-American in Kentucky. Three years later in 1949 he was nominated for the position of judge for the third municipal district, but was narrowly defeated at the election. Anderson had two children with his second wife. His half-sister Florence was an educator.

Death

Anderson was killed June 14, 1960 when his car was hit by a train at a crossing in Shelby County. He was buried at

Eastern Cemetery Eastern Cemetery is a historic cemetery at the intersection of Washington Avenue and Congress Street in the Munjoy Hill neighborhood of Portland, Maine. Established in 1668, it is the city's oldest historic site. It has more than 4,000 marked g ...

. There is a historical marker in Louisville (No. 1964) marking his as the first African American elected in the state.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Anderson, Charles W. Jr. 1907 births 1960 deaths People from Louisville, Kentucky Howard University School of Law alumni Wilberforce University alumni Members of the Kentucky House of Representatives African-American activists 20th-century African-American lawyers NAACP activists African-American state legislators in Kentucky Republican Party members of the Kentucky House of Representatives 20th-century American lawyers 20th-century African-American politicians Accidental deaths in Kentucky Railway accident deaths in the United States 20th-century members of the Kentucky General Assembly