Nathaniel M. Griggs

Nathaniel M. Griggs
Member of the Senate of Virginia
In office
1887–1890
Member of the Virginia House of Delegates
In office
1883–1884
Personal details
Born1857 (1857)
DiedJune 5, 1919(1919-06-05) (aged 61–62)

Nathaniel M. Griggs (1857 - June 5, 1919) was an African American politician in Virginia.[1]

Biography

Griggs was born a slave in Farmville, Virginia to 1857 to Matthew and Nicy Washington. He later attended night school, and would work in a tobacco factory worker before getting fired for making political speeches.

He served in the Virginia House of Delegates from 1883 to 1884 and in the Senate of Virginia from 1887 to 1890. He moved to Washington, D.C., and worked at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing.[2] After a Democrat became president, he worked at various other jobs. He went on to become a jeweler for the Wanamaker Company in Philadelphia.[3]

He is buried at the Odd Fellows Cemetery (Farmville, Virginia) in Farmville, Virginia.[4]

Legacy

Griggs would be the last African American to serve in the Senate of Virginia until the election of future Governor Douglas Wilder, who was elected to the body in 1969.[5]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "House History". history.house.virginia.gov.
  2. ↑ "Virginia's Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Commission". mlkcommission.dls.virginia.gov. Archived from the original on 2015-08-19. Retrieved 2021-02-12.
  3. ↑ "SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 13". Senate of Virginia. 2012-03-10. Retrieved 2026-05-02.
  4. ↑ "Griggs, Nathaniel M. (d. 1919)". www.encyclopediavirginia.org.
  5. ↑ "WILDER'S STILL A HARD ACT TO FORECAST". The Virginian-Pilot. 2004-08-15. Retrieved 2026-05-02. Wilder becomes the first black state Senate member since Nathaniel M. Griggs, who served from 1887 to 1890.
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