Lawrence Douglas Wilder was born to Robert and Beulah Wilder
on January 17, 1931, in Richmond, Virginia. The grandson
of slaves, he was named after abolitionist-orator Frederick
Douglas and poet Paul Lawrence Dunbar. He grew up in the
Church Hill district of the city along with six sisters
and a brother.
In 1951,Lawrence Douglas Wilder graduated from Virginia
Union University with a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry,
whereupon he served in the U. S. Army. While serving in
Korea, he was awarded the Bronze Star for heroism in ground
combat for rescuing GIs and for capturing enemy troops.
Upon his return to Virginia, Wilder worked as a chemist
for the state medical examiner’s office. When he decided
to study law, he had to leave the state because Virginia
barred blacks from attending its law schools at the time.
In 1959, he graduated from Howard University School of Law
in Washington, D. C. with a Juris Doctor degree. After passing
the bar, he established the law firm which came to be known
as Wilder, Gregory and Associates – one of the few minority-owned
businesses in Virginia – and went on to develop a reputation
as a top criminal trial lawyer.
In 1969, Wilder entered politics, running in a special
at-large election for a vacated state Senate seat in Richmond.
By winning that election, he became the first African-American
state senator in Virginia since Reconstruction. During his
five terms in the Virginia Senate, he chaired several committees,
including the Democratic Steering Committee. In addition,
he successfully sponsored Virginia’s first drug paraphernalia
law and the compulsory school attendance law. For eight
years he persisted until Virginia finally declared a holiday
for Martin Luther King, Jr. Wilder made history again in
1985 by being elected Virginia’s first African-American
Lieutenant Governor.
A milestone was achieved on January 13, 1990, when Virginia’s
66th Governor, Lawrence Douglas Wilder, was sworn in as
the first elected African-American Governor in U. S. History.
What made the event all the more meaningful was his election
in Virginia, the former capital of the Confederacy. During
Governor Wilder’s term in office, his administration achieved
numerous successes, including nationally recognized leadership
in fiscal management. In fact, Virginia was ranked by Financial
World magazine as the nation’s best-managed state two years
in a row.
