253st from Tales from Pioneers and Soldiers Cemetery…
By SUE HUNTER WEIR
On August 24, 1872, the Minneapolis Tribune printed an announcement signed by 74 members of Minneapolis’ African American Community endorsing Ulysses S. Grant’s bid for a second term as President. Black men in Minnesota had won the right to vote on November 3, 1868, two years before the 15th Amendment which granted suffrage to all men regardless of race was passed. But the 1872 election was their first opportunity to vote for a president. The group said that they had sent a letter to the Republican State Central Committee repudiating candidate Charles Sumner, who challenged Grant for the Republican nomination and declared their intent to follow up the letter “by ballots [for Grant] at the polls in November.”
Black men in Minnesota had won the right to vote
on November 3, 1868, two years before the 15th Amendment
which granted suffrage to all men regardless of race was
passed. Women of any race could not vote until 1920
when the 20th Amendment to the Constitution became law.
Seventy-four might not seem like a large number, but, according to the 1870 Federal Census, there were only 750 Blacks living in the State of Minnesota. Many of those who signed were the movers and shakers in the Black community—entrepreneurs, political activists, founders and participants in various social and civic organizations. Ralph T. Grey, signed. Although he is buried in Lakewood, his father-in-law, William Goodridge, who ran the Underground Railroad in York, Pennsylvania before locating to Minnesota is buried in Minneapolis Pioneers and Soldiers Cemetery. William’s grandson, Toussaint, the first Black child born in St. Anthony is buried next to him; so is his son, Glenalvin Goodridge, founder of the longest running, Black-owned photography business in the United States. Slade Robinson, a gardener, was one of the founding members of the Zion Good Templars Lodge. Horace Carlisle, another signer, is not buried in the cemetery but his daughter is, and so is his brother-in-law, John Cheatham, Minneapolis’ first Black firefighter and nine other members of the Cheatham family.
At least nine of the signers are buried in the cemetery and there may well be others. Many of the names on the list are likely misspelled. Three of the nine signers, (Woodford Anderson, Alonzo Brown, and Jerry Bruce) were soldiers, veterans of the U. S. Colored Troops. Stories explaining Grant’s appeal to Black voters most often refer to his record on passing civil rights legislation and his record of prosecuting Klan members which was certainly true. Curiously, though, those stories do not mention the fact that he is widely regarded as the winning general of the Civil War, something that would likely have appealed to Black veterans who fought for the Union.
The first two men signers of the letter were Sanford Lewis and his son David H. Lewis. Sanford Lewis was born in Pike County, Ohio, which became a major stop on the Underground Railroad. Although he was born in a free state, long before the Civil War began, his mother, Jane Lewis, was not. She was an early arrival to Pike County, but she was born in Kentucky sometime around 1802 and was almost certainly enslaved before she fled to Ohio. She arrived there sometime before 1825, the year that Sanford, her oldest son, was born. All of her children were born in Ohio as were Sanford’s sons (her grandchildren).
In 1870, Sanford Lewis, his wife Anne, and their son Charles were living in Cincinnati. David, their oldest son, had already moved to Minneapolis and set up shop as a barber. David married Priscilla Bruce, who is related to Civil War veteran Jerry Bruce and his mother Catherine, but the connection is not clear. Perhaps she was a sister, a niece or a cousin. David died in 1882, and Priscilla married her second husband Henry Grimes in 1884. Priscilla was one of the founding members of St. James A.M.E. Church. When Catherine Bruce could no longer live independently, she moved in with, and was cared for, by Priscilla and Henry Grimes. Catherine died on August 7, 1894, at the age of 93. Henry died on June 15, 1911, at the age of 64, and Priscilla Grimes died on September 23, 1914, aged 72.
The experience of several other families is similar to the Lewis-Bruce-Grimes family and shows how interconnected the Black community was. Some had professional ties, especially members of the barbering community. Others attended the same church or belonged to the same lodges. It was a close-knit community and one that apparently took great interest in politics.
As for President Ulysses S. Grant, he went on to win in 1872 with 61% of the popular vote. The exact number of Blacks who voted for him is not known, but it is believed that the majority did. Grant won several Southern states despite his role in the Civil War. Women of any race could not vote until 1920 when the 20th Amendment to the Constitution became law.
