Southern University Founded by Republican Plantation Owners

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Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchback, May 10, 1837 – December 21, 1921)
Pinchback was born free in Macon, Georgia to Eliza Stewart, a freed mulatto woman, and William Pinchback, a white planter. His father raised the younger Pinchback and his siblings as his own children on his large plantation in Mississippi.

After the contested 1872 Louisiana gubernatorial election, Republican legislators elected Pinchback to the United States Senate. Due to the controversy over the 1872 elections in the state, which were challenged by white Democrats, Pinchback was never seated in Congress.

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Theophile T. Allain (October 1, 1846 – February 2, 1917)

Theophile Terrence Allain was born a slave on October 1, 1846 on the Australian Plantation, West Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana. His father was a wealthy plantation owner named Sosthene Allain and was owner of Theophile and his mother.

In 1869 he entered the grocery business in West Baton Rouge and Iberville, where he remained until 1873. He next invested in sugar and rice cultivation and became owner of his father's plantation.

As a Republican legislator, he advocated for the interests of farm labor, especially black labor, stating "that labor and capital are mutually dependent upon each other".

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Henry Demas (1848–1900)

Following his emancipation, Demas was able to attain further education. In 1868, the year after he mustered out of military service, he was elected constable. In 1870, he became an elected politician. He served the House for two terms and then became a senator until 1892. He was among the longest serving African American politicians, serving about two decades as a legislator.

In 1897, Demas was appointed New Orleans Naval Office by Senator Mark Hanna (Ohio) and President William McKinley. The appointment caused a backlash with Democratic newspapers claiming that Demas was one of "Negro politicians who... have enacted the role of masters of the white people" and questioned his character, motives, and honesty.

He was also described as "the leader of the unscrupulous Republican party during the days of the reconstruction", with a national reputation.

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