James D. Black

Infobox Governor
name = James D. Black


order = 39^th
office = Governor of Kentucky
lieutenant = Charles M. Harriss
term_start = May 19, 1919
term_end = December 9, 1919
predecessor = Augustus O. Stanley
successor = Edwin P. Morrow
order2 = Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky
term_start2 = December 7, 1915
term_end2 = May 19, 1919
predecessor2 = Edward J. McDermott
successor2 = Charles M. Harriss
constituency2 =
office3 =
term_start3 =
term_end3 =
predecessor3 =
successor3 =
constituency3 =
majority3 =
birth_date = September 24, 1849
birth_place = Knox County, Kentucky
death_date = death date and age |1938|8|5|1849|9|24
death_place = Barbourville, Kentucky
party = Democratic
spouse = Nettie Pitzer
religion = Methodist
profession = Lawyer

James Dixon Black (September 24, 1849 – August 5, 1938) was thirty-ninth governor of Kentucky in 1919.

Personal life

James Dixon Black was born nine miles from Barbourville on Richland Creek in Knox County, Kentucky, to John C. and Clarissa Jones Black. ["Kentucky's Governors", p. 149.] Black attended the rural and subscription schools in and around Barbourville. In 1872, he graduated from Tusculum College near Greeneville, Tennessee with a bachelor's degree. (Tusculum College awarded him an honorary LL.D. in 1911.)

After college Black returned to Knox County where he taught in the public schools for two years. During this time, he studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1874. Black married Nettie Pitzer on December 2, 1875 in Barbourville. They had three children: Pitzer Dixon, Gertrude Dawn, and Georgia Clarice.

Educational career

Black was first elected to the Kentucky House, 1876-1877, but left politics for many years while he and other citizens of Barbourville started a new college. Black insisted that the college be named Union College as a demonstration of community unity. He was superintendent of the Knox County public schools in 1884, but returned to practice law in 1885. Black also served as Kentucky's commissioner to the Chicago World's Columbian Exhibition in 1893. Black continued to be involved in the development of Union College and served as its attorney, as a fund-raiser, and finally as president from 1910-1912. ["Kentucky's Governors", p. 149.]

Politics

Black returned to politics in 1912 when he became Kentucky's first assistant attorney general. He ran for and won the nomination for lieutenant governor in 1915. When Governor Augustus O. Stanley became a U.S. Senator in 1919, Black filled the remaining seven months of his term. Black was a temperance man, which did not put him in a good position with Stanley's supporters. However, the General Assembly did not meet during Black's term, so any potential conflicts were avoided. ["Kentucky's Governors", p. 149-150.]

The Stanley administration was plagued with many accusations of corruption and poor choices for political appointments. Black struggled, but succeeded, in gaining the Democratic nomination for governor. Numerous allegations of corruption continued to follow Black during the campaign and he lost to Edwin P. Morrow by more than 40,000 votes. Black believed his defeat was due to liquor interests, how President Wilson handled the coal strike, and his failure to remove Stanley's appointees. ["Kentucky's Governors", p. 151.]

On December 1, 1919, Black pardoned Henry Youtsey. Youtsey had been paroled the previous year after serving eighteen years for conspiracy in the assassination of Governor William Goebel.

Later life

Black became chief prohibition inspector for Kentucky in 1920. Afterward he returned to his law practice and became president of the National Bank in Barbourville. Black was Ninth Congressional District campaign manager for Senator Alben Barkley when he developed pneumonia. He died on August 5, 1938 and is entombed in a mausoleum at Barbourville Cemetery.

Notes

References

* "James Dixon Black" by Melba Porter Hay, "Kentucky's Governors: Updated Edition" (Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky), 2004. ISBN 0-8131-2326-7

External links

* [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=7091067 Find-A-Grave profile for James D. Black]

ee also

*History of Kentucky