Statesmen, Scoundrels, and Eccentrics: A Gallery of Amazing Arkansans

William H. Grey

William H. Grey One of the remarkable black leaders of nineteenth-century Arkansas was William H. Grey of Helena. A dynamic and forceful speaker, a leader who commanded the respect of his constituents, and an advocate for racial equality, Grey’s star burned brightly in the Arkansas political firmament before paralysis prematurely stole his health. Like many of the black leaders who came to Arkansas after the Civil War, Grey did not grow up in slavery. Grey’s exact birth date and birthplace are unknown, but he was probably born in the late s— in the Washington, D.C., area. There is considerable circumstantial evidence that Grey was the son of Henry A.Wise, a Virginia congressman and later governor. We do know that Wise only freed one of his slaves during his lifetime,and that was a woman named Elizabeth Gray and her two children, Mary Jane and William Henry. We also know Grey was a mulatto. Contemporary accounts told of CongressmanWise bringing young William into the House of Representatives almost every day, where, as Wise’s biographer has written, the young boy “folded documents at [Wise’s] desk,and heard the speeches.” Later,Grey became a Methodist minister, married, and had a number of children. The end of the Civil War presented many opportunities for aggressive young black men who wanted to make a mark.Likewise,the end of slavery opened the south as a new frontier for political involvement, especially after the Reconstruction Acts were adopted. Growing up in the political whirlwind that was Washington, D.C., during the decade leading to the CivilWar,Grey must have developed a considerable interest in politics. Whatever the cause, Grey moved to Helena, Arkansas, soon after the war. After opening a grocery store and bakery in Helena, Grey successfully ran for the  Constitutional Convention, the body charged with writing the Reconstruction constitution for the state. The con-  vention was controlled by the Republican Party, which had been organized in Arkansas only a few months earlier. The convention convened on January , , in the state House of Representatives chamber, which, ironically, was the location of the Confederate secession convention seven years earlier. Grey was one of eight black members, a sizable minority among the seventy active delegates . Widely recognized as one of the more able delegates,Grey emerged as the leading opponent of a proposal to ban “miscegenation,” as interracial marriage was called. Grey, who could have pointed to his own mixed race as an example,spoke eloquently about how white men were responsible for the presence of so many mulatto freedmen, noting “the purity of blood . . . has already been somewhat interfered with in this country.” He concluded, “when you place in your Constitution a provision of this nature, you at once create an inequality.” In the end, Grey was successful, but conservative newspaper editors all over the state railed against the “miscegenationist” constitution. At the end of the convention, Grey ran for and won election to the  state House of Representatives. In , at the end of Reconstruction , he was elected to the state Senate. Grey earned a good reputation during his legislative service, with one newspaper commenting that he “cuts as good a figure as any of them in the hall.” His final elective service was as county clerk of Phillips County. During the presidential campaign of , while Grey was in the legislature, he was selected to serve as a delegate to the Republican national convention. Four years later he again served as a delegate to the GOP national convention, this time to second the nomination of President U. S. Grant. His  speech was the first occasion for a black citizen to address a major political convention. While serving in the legislature, Grey developed an interest in promoting immigration to the state of Arkansas. In  he was elected Commissioner of Immigration and State Lands, a statewide political office. Among the many leading blacks he encouraged to move to Arkansas was Mifflin W. Gibbs, who later became the dean of Arkansas black leaders.He also promoted German immigration.He was removed from office in  when the conservative Democrats finally brought an end to Reconstruction.  POSTBELLUM POLITICIANS In September , Grey was struck with paralysis. He was bedfast for the remaining ten years of his life. He died in November , leaving a wife, several children still at home, and a very small estate. FOR MORE INFORMATION: Dillard, Tom W. “Three Important Black...