Grand Old Partisan acclaims Richard Gleaves, born in Philadelphia this day of 1819. His parents were an Englishman and a Haitian. He worked aboard steamboats along the Mississippi and Ohio rivers. This "most distinguished Freemason of the nineteenth century" made Masonic Lodges popular among African-Americans.
In 1866, the enterprising attorney moved to South Carolina for a business partnership with Robert Smalls, the renowned former slave and future congressman. The following year, Gleaves chaired the state Republican Party's founding convention. He went on to be elected judge.
In 1872, Gleaves won the first of two terms as Lieutenant Governor. He was delegate to the 1876 Republican National Convention. He also was trustee of what is now South Carolina State University. President Rutherford Hayes appointed him to a position at the Treasury Department. President James Garfield named him a customs inspector. Democrat repression later caused him to flee the state. For much of the remainder of his life he was a waiter in Washington, DC.
Here is a Video Version of this article on YouTube: https://youtu.be/SWFkGsmqbFo
Michael Zak is author of Back to Basics for the Republican Party, a history of GOP civil rights achievement.
Each day, Michael Zak's grandoldpartisan YouTube channel and Grand Old Partisan blog celebrate more than sixteen decades of Republican heritage. And, see Speech Raves for audience feedback from his presentations in thirty-one states so far.
He also wrote the 2005 Republican Freedom Calendar.
Clarence Thomas cited Back to Basics for the Republican Party in a Supreme Court decision.
See www.youtube.com/q?v=IzxKCiXc5Qc for a brief video of a Texas Republican praising Back to Basics for the Republican Party.
"This is the most amazing book about politics that I have ever read. The Overview should be required reading for anyone with even a minor interest in government. The remainder is an enthralling history lesson that I will never forget. For years, we have all been misled about the true nature of the GOP. This is the real deal! Read it and be proud!"
"Michael Zak wrote the definitive history of the GOP."
"Back to Basics for the Republican Party is the most significant contribution to the Republican Party in the last twenty years apart from Ronald Reagan."
"Back to Basics for the Republican Party is more important to our party now than ever before."
and
"one of the best books I ever read"
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