1990 Lawrence Douglas Wilder becomes the first African American to have been elected governor of a U.S. state

Lawrence Douglas Wilder (born January 17, 1931) is an American politician. He is the first African American to have been elected governor of a U.S. state, serving as Governor of Virginia from 1990 to 1994.

Wilder was born in Richmond, Virginia. The grandson of slaves, he was named after poet Paul Laurence Dunbar and abolitionist, speaker and author Frederick Douglass. He attended racially segregated George Mason Elementary School and Armstrong High School, going on to Virginia Union University, where he graduated with a degree in chemistry in 1951. Wilder then served in the Korean conflict, earning a Bronze Star. After his service, he attended Howard University School of Law under the G.I. Bill, graduating in 1959 and co-founding the law firm Wilder, Gregory, and Associates.

Wilder began his career in public office after winning a 1969 special election to the Senate of Virginia, becoming the first African American state Senator from Virginia since Reconstruction. In 1985, still holding office in the state Senate, he was narrowly elected Lieutenant Governor of Virginia on a Democratic ticket under then-Attorney General Gerald Baliles. Upon his election, Wilder became the first African American elected to statewide executive office in the South in the twentieth century.

Ascending from the office of Lieutenant Governor, Wilder was elected to succeed Baliles on November 8, 1989, defeating Republican Marshall Coleman by a spread of less than half a percent. The closeness of the margin prompted a recount, which certified Wilder's victory, and he was sworn in on January 13, 1990. In recognition of his landmark achievement, the NAACP awarded Wilder the Spingarn Medal for 1990.

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