Jonathan Jasper Wright Institute for the Study of Southern African American History, Culture and Policy

 

Jonathan Jasper Wright – Public Servant, Teacher, Lawyer and Statesman

The Son of Runaway Slaves
In January 1870, the Honorable Jonathan Jasper Wright was nominated by the South Carolina Mission Conference as one of seven members of the Claflin College Board of Trustees. This represents a significant marker in the history of Claflin University; however, beyond the walls of Claflin, Jonathan Jasper Wright provided many more significant markers in the history of South Carolina and the United States of America.

A Lawyer Denied Entry to the Bar
Wright was born in Luzeme County, Pennsylvania, in 1840, the son of runaway slaves who traveled north aided by the Underground Railroad.  During his youth he was educated both publicly and privately.  Having also worked on nearby farms, Wright used his savings to enter Lancasterian University in Ithaca, New York. After completing his studies, he returned home to teach school while at the same time pursing his vision of being admitted to the Pennsylvania bar. Wright read law for two years with the firm of Bently, Firth and Bently in Montrose and another year in the chambers of Judge O. Collins of Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania. Despite being qualified to stand the bar, because of his race, the committee refused to examine him.

An Educator to Freed Slaves
In 1865, at the age of 25, Wright was sent by the American Missionary Society to Beaufort, South Carolina, to aid in the establishment of schools for recently freed slaves. With his law background, he also gave lectures on legal and political matters as well as providing legal advice. Months later when Congress passed the Civil Rights Bill, Wright returned to Montrose, Pennsylvania, petitioning the authorities and demanding he be given an examination. This time his request was granted and the committee found him qualified. On August 13, 1865, Wright was admitted to the bar.

Newly qualified and the first African American admitted to the bar in Pennsylvania, Wright returned to Beaufort as legal advisor to General Oliver O. Howard, head of the Freedmen’s Bureau. Wright thus became the first African American to practice law in South Carolina.

An Advocate and State Senator
His contributions to South Carolina during reconstruction expanded. In 1868, Wright was elected as a delegate to the South Carolina Constitutional Convention and served as the convention’s vice president. He was also assigned to the judiciary committee where he played a major role in formulating the judiciary section of the South Carolina Constitution which is in place today.

Wright continued to make history that year, being elected state senator from Beaufort County, when for the first time in South Carolina’s history, freedmen were able to vote. Then on September 23, 1968, shortly after his election, Wright was sworn in as a member of the South Carolina bar.

A Member of the South Carolina Supreme Court
Two years later, on February 1, 1870, Wright was appointed to the Supreme Court of South Carolina where he served as an Associate Justice for the next seven years. Justice Wright is credited with having written close to 90 opinions recognized for his solid basis in common law and again shaping the direction of the court. Many of these decisions, until this day, continue as legal precedent.

A Lawyer in Private Practice and a Claflin University Trustee
In 1877, Wright’s conduct was called into question when he refused to recognize the disputed election of Wade Hampton as governor of South Carolina. Wright realized that although the charges were total fabrication he would be forced from the Supreme Court. He subsequently submitted his resignation and set up law offices in Charleston, South Carolina. Wright also turned his attention to the newly established Claflin University in Orangeburg, South Carolina. There he established the University’s Law Department and became a member of the Board of Trustees. 

The Recipient of Belated Honors
Wright died in 1885. The cause of his death was given as tuberculosis. Almost a century after his death, the South Carolina Supreme Court bestowed upon him well deserved recognition for his contributions to the Court. In 1997, the justices unveiled an 1870 portrait of Wright which had appeared in Harper’s magazine. Chief Justice Ernest Finney, a Claflin College graduate and the first African American to head the Court unveiled a granite grave marker and recognized Wright’s celebrated career of “public service as a teacher, a lawyer and a statesman.”

In 2004, the Barrister’s Award, traditionally presented to an outstanding member of the South Carolina legal community by the Black Law Student Association in the School of Law at the University of South Carolina, was renamed the Jonathan Jasper Wright Award.