Lawrence Douglas Wilder (born 1931) was the first African American elected governor in the United States. He rose from waiting tables in the segregated country clubs of the Jim Crow South to become a powerful Virginia state legislator who broke the...

Virginia governor Douglas Wilder is challenging Jesse Jackson's hold on the Black vote in his Presidential campaign. Wilder's strategies, public opinion in his home state, and Jackson's position are discussed. "Wilder for resident" say the bumper-stickers in Virginia. As he gallivants round the...

Yet another half-sad, half-ridiculous chapter has closed in the long-playing denouement of L. Douglas Wilder. This time the unwitting victim was the alma mater the former governor professes to love deeply: Virginia Union University. Citing unspecified financial, legal and management problems...

Deval Laurdine Patrick was sworn in Thursday as the 71st governor of Massachusetts, the culmination of a longshot political campaign that also saw him become the state's first black chief executive and only the second elected in the nation.Amid springlike weather that embraced the state's...

The city's slavery memorial debuted beneath flags from Virginia and Africa in a tearful ceremony Friday, another step in the state's recent effort in acknowledging history to soothe slavery's hurt.A triangle of roughhewn benches resembling ship planks encircles a 13-foot bronze sculpture of two figures...