All rights reserved. 1  Huguenots: Wars of Religion and the Edict of Nantes-Wars of Religion and the Edict of Nantes The conspiracy of Amboise (1560; see Amboise, conspiracy ...
Wentworth Cheswell is said to be the first African-American to be elected to office in America. He was one quarter Black and three quarters White. He was elected as town constable of Newmarket, New Hampshire, in 1768 and served in some government position thereafter until his death â well, to be precise, every year but one.
Marshall remained on that court until 1965, when President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed him to be the United States Solicitor General, the first African American to hold the office. At the time, this made him the highest-ranking black government official in American history, surpassing Robert C. Weaver, Johnson's first secretary of housing and urban development.