Francis Lewis Cardozo

Francis Lewis Cardozo (February 1, 1836 – July 22, 1903) was a clergyman, politician, and educator. He was the first African American to hold a statewide office in the United States. He was born in Charleston, South Carolina and died in Washington, DC.

Early years

Francis Cardozo was born in Charleston as the son of Lydia Weston, a free woman of color, and Isaac Cardozo, a Sephardic Jewish man who worked at the federal customhouse. They had a common-law marriage, as state law prevented their marrying. Francis had a brother Thomas. His father encouraged the boys to attend schools for free blacks, the only ones in the city that would admit them. As a young man, Cardozo worked as a carpenter and a shipbuilder.

In 1858, Cardozo matriculated at the University of Glasgow in Scotland. Later, he attended seminaries in Edinburgh and London. He was ordained a Presbyterian minister.

In 1864, Cardozo became pastor of the Temple Street Congregational Church in New Haven, Connecticut. He married Catherine Rowena Howell. They had six children, four sons and two daughters.

In 1865, Cardozo returned to Charleston as an agent of the American Missionary Association. He succeeded his brother, Thomas, as superintendent of an American Missionary Association school. He developed this school into the Avery Normal Institute, one of the first free secondary schools for African Americans. It was established to train teachers, as freedmen sought education as one of their highest priorities. In the 21st century, the Avery Institute has been incorporated as part of the College of Charleston.

Political career

Cardozo became active in the Republican Party and was elected as a delegate to the 1868 South Carolina constitutional convention. As chair of the education committee, he advocated establishing integrated public schools in the state.

When elected as Secretary of State in 1868, Cardozo became the first African American to hold a statewide office in the United States. He reformed the South Carolina Land Commission, which distributed limited amounts of land to former slaves.

He was elected state treasurer in 1872. After he did not cooperate with corruption, some legislators unsuccessfully tried to impeach Cardozo in 1874. He was reelected in 1874 and 1876.

South Carolina elections had been increasingly marked by violence to suppress black Republican voting. The 1876 gubernatorial election season was also violent and featured widespread fraud at the polls and disputes over counts. In the end the white Democrats regained control of the state government. A compromise at the national level led to the federal government supporting Wade Hampton III's case and he was inaugurated as governor. In 1877 federal troops were withdrawn from the South. Hampton demanded Cardozo's resignation and he left office on May 1, 1877.

The Democrats prosecuted Cardozo for conspiracy in November 1877. Despite questionable evidence, he was found guilty and served over six months in jail. After the federal government dropped election fraud charges against some Democrats, Cardozo was pardoned in 1879 by Governor William Dunlap Simpson.

Cardozo moved to Washington, DC, where he accepted a position with the Treasury Department.

Educator

In 1884, Cardozo returned to education as a principal of the Colored Preparatory High School. He introduced a business curriculum and made it a leading school for African Americans. He served as principal until 1896. Cardozo Senior High School in northwest Washington, DC, is named for Francis Cardozo.

He was a distant relative of former United States Supreme Court Justice Benjamin N. Cardozo. His granddaughter, Eslanda Cardozo Goode, was the wife of the singer and political activist Paul Robeson.