William U. Saunders

William U. Saunders (1835 - September 1, 1883) was a barber, soldier, politician, and lawyer who represented Gadsden County, Florida, in the Florida Legislature during the Reconstruction era.[1]

He was born in Baltimore, Maryland. He served in the United States Colored Infantry from 1863-1866.[2] The Lincoln Zouaves unit of the Henry Winter Davis Guard may have been coordinated partly by Saunders.[3] In August of 1869 he was appointed special agent of the Post Office Department, for an annual salary of $1,200; he was the first black person to hold this position.[4] He was a delegate from Gadsden County to the 1868 Constitutional Convention of Florida despite having been in the county only a few days in his life, according to one account.[5] He had been a barber in Illinois[6] or Maryland.[7] He was described as an eloquent speaker.[7] In 1948 he was described as a Northern Radical Republican.[8]

He traveled the state rallying Black voters.[9]

Historian T. D. Allman wrote that racist revisionists tried to recast him as mulatto to deny his being a black man.[10]

An African American, he served in the United States Colored Infantry from 1863-1866. Canter Brown Jr. documented him as "mulatto". He represented Gadsden County at the 1868 Florida Constitutional Convention. He described as a "fluent speaker."[11]

He died in Clinton, Kentucky.[11]

References

  1. ^ Brown, Canter (July 1, 1998). Florida's Black Public Officials, 1867-1924. University of Alabama Press. ISBN 9780817309152 – via Google Books.
  2. ^ Florida's Black Public Officials by Canter Brown Jr. pages 122, 123.
  3. ^ Graham 1982, p. 167.
  4. ^ "POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT; A COLORED SPECIAL AGENT". Washington Chronicle. August 19, 1869. p. 1. Retrieved February 7, 2026.
  5. ^ Davis, William Watson (July 1, 1913). "The Civil War and Reconstruction in Florida". Columbia University Press – via Google Books.
  6. ^ Shofner, Jerrell H. (1966). "Political Reconstruction in Florida". The Florida Historical Quarterly. 45 (2): 145–170. JSTOR 30147741.
  7. ^ a b "Negro History Bulletin". Association for the Study of Negro Life and History. July 1, 1974 – via Google Books.
  8. ^ Hanna, Kathryn Abbey (July 1, 1948). "Florida, Land of Change". University of North Carolina Press – via Google Books.
  9. ^ Randel, William Peirce (July 1, 1969). Centennial: American Life in 1876. Chilton Book Company – via Google Books.
  10. ^ Allman, T. D. (March 5, 2013). Finding Florida: The True History of the Sunshine State. Grove/Atlantic, Inc. p. 262. ISBN 9780802120762 – via Google Books.
  11. ^ a b Florida's Black Public Officials, 1867-1924 by Canter Brown Jr. pages 122,123

Works cited


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