William P. Mabson

William Patrick Mabson, Sr. (c. 1844 or 1846–1916),[1][2] was an American educator, minister, newspaper owner, editor, and politician. He was a state legislator in North Carolina for at least two terms, active during the Reconstruction era.[3][4][5] Mabson was one of the founders of Freedom Hill (now Princeville), Edgecombe County, North Carolina.[6]

William Patrick Mabson, Sr.
North Carolina House of Representatives
In office
1872–1873
North Carolina Senate
In office
1874–1880
Personal details
Bornc. 1844, or November 1, 1846
Wilmington, North Carolina, U.S.
DiedDecember 20, 1916
Austin, Texas, U.S.
OccupationEducator, minister, newspaper owner, editor, politician

Biography

William Patrick Mabson, Sr. was the son of an African American woman, Eliza Moore, and a prominent white man, George W. Mabson, in Wilmington, North Carolina.[7] His date of birth was either c. 1844 or November 1, 1846.[1][8] His brother was George Lawrence Mabson, North Carolina's first Black lawyer.[2]

Mabson was educated at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania.[9] After the Civil war he moved to Freedom Hill, North Carolina. He and two others are credited with incorporating the town, now known as Princeville.[10] He worked as a school teacher in 1867, a career he followed into the 1880s.[5] He was a Methodist and also had worked as a Methodist minister.[6]

Mabson was first elected to the North Carolina House of Representatives in 1872 representing Edgecombe County, North Carolina but in 1873 the legislature expelled him for not being an eligible resident of the county.[8] He later was elected to the North Carolina Senate in 1874[8] and was one of five African Americans who served in the senate during the 1876–1877 session.[11][lower-alpha 1] He was also a delegate to North Carolina's 1875 constitutional convention.[13] In 1880 he lost the election to Benjamin Hart, ending his political career.[8]

In 1889, he moved his family to Austin, Texas, and he remained active in politics.[6][1][14] He was the owner and editor of the Austin Searchlight weekly Black political newspaper, which ceased production shortly after his death.[14][15] Only a few issues of the Austin Searchlight exist in archives, and little is known about this former newspaper.[16] Mabson died on December 20, 1916 in Austin, Texas.[1]

See also

Notes
  1. The other four were George Mebane, William H. Moore, Hanson T. Hughes, and John R. Bryant.[12]

References
  1. "William P Mabson obituary". Austin American-Statesman. 1916-12-21. p. 10. Retrieved 2023-01-11.
  2. Reaves, Bill (1998). Strength Through Struggle: The Chronological and Historical Record of the African-American Community in Wilmington, North Carolina, 1865-1950. New Hanover County Public Library. p. 432. ISBN 978-0-9670410-0-1.
  3. "Res. 1985-2". www.ncleg.net.
  4. Logan, Frenise A. (1984). "Black and Republican: Vicissitudes of a Minority Twice Over in the North Carolina House of Representatives, 1876-1877". The North Carolina Historical Review. 61 (3): 311–346. ISSN 0029-2494. JSTOR 23518927.
  5. Butchart, Ronald E. (2007-02-01). "Remapping Racial Boundaries: Teachers as Border Police and Boundary Transgressors in Post‐Emancipation Black Education, USA, 1861–1876". Paedagogica Historica. 43 (1): 61–78. doi:10.1080/00309230601080584. ISSN 0030-9230. S2CID 146390339.
  6. Mobley, Joe A. (1986). "In the Shadow of White Society: Princeville, a Black Town in North Carolina, 1865-1915" (PDF). The North Carolina Historical Review. 63 (3): 340–384. ISSN 0029-2494.
  7. Gould IV, William B. (2002). Diary of a Contraband: The Civil War Passage of a Black Sailor (paperback ed.). Stanford University Press. p. 30. ISBN 0-8047-4708-3.
  8. Turner, Joseph Kelly; Bridgers, John Luther (1920). History of Edgecombe County, North Carolina. Edwards & Broughton printing Company. pp. 274, 277–279.
  9. Simmons-Henry, Linda (1990). Simmons-Henry, Linda; Henry, Philip N.; Speas, Carol (eds.). The Heritage of Blacks in North Carolina. Vol. 1. North Carolina African American Heritage Foundation. p. 17. ISBN 9780912081120.
  10. Harris, Viola (February 24, 1997). "Birthday passes by quietly". Rocky Mount Telegram. p. 2 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. "North Carolina State Senate - 1876-1877". www.carolana.com. Retrieved 2023-01-12.
  12. "The North Carolina Historical Review". North Carolina Historical Commission. December 11, 1984 – via Google Books.
  13. "Princeville White Paper: Historical Summary" (PDF). Princeville, Edgecombe County, North Carolina. March 2014.
  14. "W. P. Mabson". The Tarborough Southerner. 1903-03-19. p. 3. Retrieved 2023-01-11.
  15. McDonald, Jason (2012-06-14). Racial Dynamics in Early Twentieth-Century Austin, Texas. Lexington Books. p. 128. ISBN 978-0-7391-7097-7.
  16. "The Searchlight". Texas Beyond History (TBH), Texas Archeological Research Laboratory (TARL) at the University of Texas at Austin.
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