Curtis Pollard

Curtis Pollard was a minister, farmer, store keeper and state legislator who served in the Louisiana State Senate during the Reconstruction era.[1]

Curtis Pollard
Louisiana State Senate
In office
1868–1870
Louisiana State Senate
In office
1872–1876
Personal details
Born1806/7
Virginia
Political partyRepublican

Biography

Pollard was born in Virginia and in the 1870 United States census Pollard was listed as being aged 63.[2] He was a Baptist preacher who travelled to Madison Parish, Louisiana in 1864 to start a farm.[2] He was successful at farming and obtained recognition in the local community leading to his selection as convention delegate and then his senatorial nomination.[2]

He was a delegate to the Louisiana constitutional conventions in 1867[3] and 1868 representing Franklin Parish and Madison Parish and in 1867 he served on the Committee on the Executive Department.[2][1]

Pollard was nominated to run for the state senate by the Republicans[4] and was elected to the Louisiana State Senate for the 1868 to 1870 session.[1] He was almost the nomination for the United States senator for Louisiana which he lost to Oscar James Dunn after interrupting his own potential nominator.[5] At the time Pollard was described as "a black man, uncompromisingly and a Republican equally uncompromising".[5] In his first senatorial session he served on a Committee for Auditing and Supervising the Expenses of the Senate as well as one for charitable and public institutions.[2]

For the 1870 to 1872 senatorial session he lost the nomination to William L. McMillen[6] but Pollard decided to run as an independent Republican candidate,[7] but lost to McMillen. He was living in Delta, Louisiana at the time.[8]

Pollard was then again elected to serve in the Louisiana State Senate in 1872 representing the 17th senatorial district[9] and he served until 1876.[1]

Pollard was a partner in the Mississippi River Packet Company which was a black-owned enterprise.[1] He had also been a parish police jury and ran a grocery store until 1872.[1] He was a founder of the Bank of Delta in February 1874.[10]

He left his wife and children unwillingly when he was forced by armed men onto a steamboat in 1879 whilst helping emigrants leave to Kansas.[1]

See also

References
  1. Foner, Eric (1 August 1996). Freedom's Lawmakers: A Directory of Black Officeholders During Reconstruction. LSU Press. p. 172. ISBN 978-0-8071-2082-8. Retrieved October 29, 2022.
  2. Jones, Howard J. (1978). "Biographical Sketches of Members of the 1868 Louisiana State Senate". Louisiana History: The Journal of the Louisiana Historical Association. 19 (1): 78. ISSN 0024-6816. JSTOR 4231757. Retrieved 29 October 2022.
  3. "Important Military Order - Assembling of the State Convention". The Times-Picayune. 21 October 1867. p. 1. Retrieved 4 November 2022.open access
  4. "From Carroll Parish". New Orleans Republican. 30 April 1868. p. 1. Retrieved 4 November 2022.open access
  5. "The Hon Curtis Pollard". The Times-Picayune. 10 July 1868. p. 1. Retrieved 30 October 2022.open access
  6. "Senatorial Nomination". New Orleans Republican. 18 September 1870. p. 4. Retrieved 4 November 2022.open access
  7. "Curtis Pollard - Independent Republican candidate". New Orleans Republican. 14 October 1870. p. 4. Retrieved 4 November 2022.open access
  8. "Delta". The Daily Telegraph. 16 December 1870. p. 2. Retrieved 4 November 2022.open access
  9. "Official Notices - Elected Senators". New Orleans Republican. 9 December 1872. p. 5. Retrieved 4 November 2022.open access
  10. "An Act (No 27) - Bank of Delta incorporation". New Orleans Republican. 26 February 1874. p. 3. Retrieved 4 November 2022.open access


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