Jesse Dungee (circa 1812 - August 1884) was a shoemaker, leeching practitioner, minister, community leader, and state legislator in Virginia. He was a Republican during his state legislative service. He served in the

Virginia House of Delegates The Virginia House of Delegates is one of the two houses of the Virginia General Assembly, the other being the Senate of Virginia. It has 100 members elected for terms of two years; unlike most states, these elections take place during odd-numbe ...

from 1871 to 1873. Dungee was born in

King William County King William County is a county located in the U.S. state of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 17,810. Its county seat is King William. King William County is located in the Middle Peninsula and is included in the Greater ...

. He was of mixed heritage, and he was born outside of slavery. He married and had numerous children. He was related to

Shed Dungee Shed Dungee (December 25, 1831–March 30, 1900) was a cobbler, preacher and state legislator in Virginia. He served two terms in the Virginia House of Delegates from 1879 to 1882. He was born enslaved and worked as a cobbler and became a prea ...

who also served in the House. He married Mary Jane Custalo in 1830. John Riley Dungee, an educator, was one of his sons. He was a leader of the Mt. Nebo Baptist Church in

West Point, Virginia West Point (formerly Delaware) is an incorporated town in King William County, Virginia, United States. The population was 3,414 at the 2020 census. Geography West Point is located at (37.543733, −76.805366). The York River is formed at Wes ...

. In 1876, a few years after leaving the Virginia House of Delegates, he left the Republican Party and joined the Democratic Party. In an announcement of his party switch, he explained that he desired "full and manly reconciliation" between black and white Virginians. Although he was born outside of slavery, he claimed he was enslaved earlier in his life; this was an attempt, as scholar Stephen Robinson writes, to better connect with black Virginians as a Democrat, a party seen by his contemporaries as elitist.

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