Robert Meacham

American politician

Robert Meacham

Born	1835 Gadsden County, Florida
Died	27 February 1902 Tampa, Florida
Occupation(s)	Minister, Politician
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Stella

Robert Meacham (1835–1902) was an educational, religious and political leader in Florida during and after Reconstruction.^[1]^[2] An African-American, he was a slave in Quincy, Florida; one of the sons of his enslaver, he was educated by him. He purchased his freedom and that of his mother with money he had saved out of gratuities given to him by his father.^[3] He helped to establish the African Methodist Episcopal Church in Florida and acted as a minister.^[1] He helped write Florida's new Constitution of 1868.^[1]

In 1868 he was appointed clerk of the Circuit Court for Jefferson County, Florida.^[4] The following year he was named "superintendent of common schools". After a two-year term he became postmaster of Monticello, Florida, county seat of Jefferson County. In 1871 he was reappointed to the school position, renewed again when the two-year term ran out. He went on to win a seat in the Florida state legislature^[2] as a state senator^[5] serving from 1868 until 1879.^[6] In 1880 he was made postmaster of Punta Gorda, Florida. He retired to Tampa in 1896, due to failing health, and died in 1902.^[3]

His met his wife Stella, while both worked as servants in Tallahassee.^[7] His daughter-in-law Christina Meacham (1865-1927) was a teacher and school principal in Tampa for whom the Meacham Early Childhood Center is named.^[7]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c Jones, Maxine Deloris; Kevin M. McCarthy (1993). African Americans in Florida. Pineapple Press Inc. pp. 37. ISBN 1-56164-031-X.
^ ^a ^b Lincove, David A.; Eric Foner (2000). Reconstruction in the United States: An Annotated Bibliography. Greenwood Press. p. 309. ISBN 0-313-29199-3.
^ ^a ^b Federal Writers' Project (1993). McDonough, Gary W. (ed.). The Florida Negro. A Federal Writers' Project Legacy. University Press of Mississippi. pp. 99–100. ISBN 0878055886.
^ "Collection of Robert Meacham Florida Documents". invaluable.com. Retrieved 2020-05-21.
^ Ortiz, Paul (2006). Emancipation Betrayed: The Hidden History of Black Organizing and White Violence in Florida from Reconstruction to the Bloody Elections of 1920. University of California Press. p. 24. ISBN 0-520-23946-6.
^ Foner, Eric (1 August 1996). Freedom's Lawmakers: A Directory of Black Officeholders During Reconstruction. LSU Press. p. 147. ISBN 978-0-8071-2082-8. Retrieved November 12, 2022.
^ ^a ^b African Americans in Florida by Maxine D. Jones and Kevin M. McCarthy Pineapple Press (1993) page 38

U.S. Black church denominations and leaders

General themes

Religion in Black America
Historically African-American Christian denominations
Clergy

Methodist

African Methodist Episcopal Church	John Adams Sr. Richard Allen Sarah Allen Benjamin W. Arnett George Lincoln Blackwell Morris Brown Jamal Harrison Bryant John Richard Bryant Richard H. Cain Archibald Carey Jr. Daniel Coker James H. Cone James Levert Davis Jordan Winston Early Orishatukeh Faduma Floyd Flake Carolyn Tyler Guidry Sarah E. Gorham William H. Heard Reginald Jackson Henrietta Phelps Jeffries Absalom Jones Ben Kinchlow Vashti Murphy McKenzie Biddy Mason Lena Doolin Mason Robert Meacham Lyman S. Parks Daniel Payne Charles H. Pearce Clementa C. Pinckney William Paul Quinn Reverdy Cassius Ransom Richard Henry Singleton Charles Spencer Smith Theophilus Gould Steward Henry McNeal Turner William Tecumseh Vernon D. Ormonde Walker Lewis Woodson
African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church	William H. Day Julia A. J. Foote James Walker Hood Thomas James Singleton T. Jones John Kinard Jermain Wesley Loguen John E. Price William Henry Singleton John Bryan Small Mary J. Small Jeffery Tribble James Varick Alexander Walters
A.U.M.P. Church	Peter Spencer
Christian Methodist Episcopal Church	William Yancy Bell William H. Miles

Baptist

Dexter Avenue Baptist Church	Vernon Johns Martin Luther King Jr.
First African Baptist Church (Richmond, Virginia)	Lucy Goode Brooks
First African Baptist Church (Savannah, Georgia)	David George
Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship	Paul S. Morton
Lott Carey Foreign Mission Convention	Clinton Caldwell Boone Lott Cary
National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc.	Stewart Cleveland Cureton Joseph H. Jackson T. J. Jemison Willie James Jennings Henry Lyons Benjamin Mays W. J. Simmons
National Baptist Convention of America, Inc.	R. H. Boyd
National Missionary Baptist Convention of America	S. M. Lockridge
Progressive National Baptist Convention	Ralph Abernathy William Augustus Jones Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. Gardner C. Taylor
United American Free Will Baptist Church	Benjamin Randall