Wade Perrin was ordered to dance, sing and pray by a group of white men before they told him to run for his life. As he ran, they shot him dead. His crime was being a Black politician who had just been re-elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives.
Little is known about Wade Perrin’s early life, including his childhood and family background. What is known is that he lived in Laurens County, South Carolina, and served as a minister in the African Methodist Episcopal Church. In 1868, he was elected to the state House of Representatives as a member of the Republican Party.
His election came during Reconstruction, the period after the American Civil War when the country struggled to rebuild the South and define the rights of formerly enslaved Africans.
Slavery had ended, and Black men gained the right to vote and run for office. Across the South, African Americans began taking part in government. Some became lawmakers, while others served in local offices. Their growing influence challenged a racist political system that had long excluded them.
Perrin was among the Black lawmakers who helped shape South Carolina’s government during Reconstruction, representing the interests of his constituents in the state legislature.
After serving his first two-year term, Perrin ran for re-election. On October 19, 1870, he won another term in the House. However, he would never get the chance to serve it.
At the time, many white supremacists were determined to stop Black Americans from gaining political power. They feared losing the control they had held for generations and opposed the Republican Party, which supported Reconstruction and the political rights of formerly enslaved people.
The Ku Klux Klan became one of the main groups used to spread this fear. Its members attacked Black voters, Republican officials and others who supported equal rights. Threats and beatings were used to discourage people from voting or taking part in politics.
Despite these threats, Republicans performed well in the October 1870 elections in South Carolina. The result angered those who wanted to restore white political control.
Violence broke out in Laurens County the day after the election. Armed white men attacked Black residents and Republican supporters. The unrest spread through the area, and several people were killed.
Perrin was among the victims. His election victory had secured him another term in the state legislature, but it could not protect him from men who refused to accept a Black man’s right to hold public office.
As he walked near Martin’s Depot, in what is now Joanna, South Carolina, a group of white men seized him. They were linked to the Ku Klux Klan, an organisation that used terror and violence to undermine Black freedom and political participation.
They ordered him to dance. They then made him sing and pray. After humiliating him, they told him to run away.
As Perrin ran, the men shot him.
His body was found lying in the road, with his pockets turned inside out. Erastus W. Everson, an agent of the Freedmen’s Bureau who witnessed the wider unrest, later testified about the discovery.
Perrin was not the only Black political figure killed during this period. More than a dozen Republican members-elect, most of them African American, were killed by white mobs in and around Laurens County in the aftermath of the election.
These killings were intended to send a clear message to Black citizens who dared to vote, hold office or challenge white supremacy.
Perrin’s murder did not go unnoticed by his fellow lawmakers. On January 31, 1871, the South Carolina House of Representatives held a memorial service in his honour. The state Senate also attended.
A resolution introduced by Representative William James Whipper described Perrin as a martyr to the principles of free government and free speech. His body had lain in state before the service, and he was later buried in Columbia.
Authorities eventually charged six men in connection with Perrin’s murder and the killings of other Black legislators. The charges included conspiracy to harm African Americans because of their voting rights.
However, the case ended in a mistrial in December 1872. The accused men were released, and the available historical accounts do not establish that anyone was convicted for Perrin’s murder.
Sources:
https://calendar.eji.org/racial-injustice/oct/20
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-charleston-daily-news/104069561/
