Green, John Patterson, 1845-

Cleveland lawyer, justice of the peace (1873-1882), Ohio state congressman (1882-1892), state senator (1892-1896), and U.S. Postage Stamp Agent. He was a powerful Republican campaign orator and was influential in William McKinley's 1896 presidential campaign.

From the description of John Paterson Green papers, 1869-1910. (Rhinelander District Library). WorldCat record id: 17725496

John P. Green, the first African American to be elected to public office in Cleveland, Ohio, was a Cleveland lawyer, justice of the peace (1873-1882), Ohio state congressman (1882-1892), state senator (1892-1896), and U.S. Postage Stamp Agent. He was a powerful Republican campaign orator and was influential in William McKinley's 1896 presidential campaign.

From the description of The John Patterson Green papers, 1869-1910 [microform] / editor, Olivia J. Martin. (University of Arkansas - Fayetteville). WorldCat record id: 49915632

Lawyer, justice of the peace, and Ohio legislator. Middle name also spelled Paterson; died 1940.

From the description of Papers of John Patterson Green, 1869-1910. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 71068124

click here to view the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History entry for John Patterson Green

John Patterson Green (1845-1940) was the first African American to be elected to public office in Cleveland, Ohio. Born in 1845, Green was the son of John R. and Temperance Green who were free blacks of Newberne, North Carolina. John P. Green came to Cleveland, Ohio, in 1857 with this family, graduated from Central High School, and attended Union Law College. He returned to North Carolina where he was admitted to the bar in 1870. After a short career during which he was elected an alternate delegate-at-large to the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia in 1872, he returned to Cleveland to practice law.

In 1873 he was elected a justice of the peace on the Republican ticket, a minor political office now, but one of considerable importance then. Because he served faithfully, the voters returned him to office until 1882 when he was elected to the Ohio state legislature. In 1888 he was again elected to the state legislature, and in 1892 he was elevated to the state senate. Green was the sponsor of the bill which established Labor Day as a holiday in Ohio and which was followed by similar legislation in other states.

Because of his ability as a campaign orator, Green's services were in demand in every presidential campaign after 1872. In 1928, at the age of 84, he spoke in Chicago on "The Relation of Negroes to the Republican Party," recalling the fact that he had been in Chicago in 1884 and had talked on the same platform with abolitionist Frederick Douglass.

As a result of his service to William McKinley during the presidential campaign of 1896, he received an appointment as a United States postage stamp agent at Washington, D. C., the first African American to be so honored. Green returned to Cleveland to practice law, and earned renown for his ability to arouse sympathy for his clients by tearfully pleading their cases. He published his autobiography, Fact Stranger Than Fiction, in 1920. On September 1, 1940, at the age of 95, John P. Green died following an accident in Cleveland, Ohio.

From the guide to the John Patterson Green Papers, 1869-1932, (Western Reserve Historical Society)