Matthew T. Newsom (Claiborne County)
State House: 1870-1871
Born: c. 1816 in North Carolina
Newsom appears on the 1860 census as a free man of color in Quincy, Illinois. He was appointed to serve as justice of the peace in Claiborne County in 1869. Listed on the 1870 census in Claiborne, occupation “Miss State Legislature,” with wife and daughter, both named Rozetta. His daughter (who had been born while Newsom lived in Michigan) married a George Townsend in 1875, and his wife is listed alone on the 1880 census.
“A native of North Carolina, Newsom attended the Mississippi black convention of 1865 and the first Republican state convention in 1867, where he proposed that the party commit itself to land confiscation. He represented Claiborne County in the constitutional convention of 1868 and in the state House of Representatives, 1870-71, and he also served as a district judge.”
(Eric Foner, Freedom’s Lawmakers: A Directory of Black Officeholders during Reconstruction, 1993)
Links:
Arguments, pro and con, on the call for a National Emigration Convention, to be held in Cleveland, Ohio, August, 1854 – pamphlet compiled by M. T. Newsom
This page was last updated on January 7, 2026.