L. Douglas Wilder

L. Douglas Wilder (1931- ) governor of Virginia (1990-1994), the first black American to be elected a United States governor. Wilder was born in Richmond, Virginia, and educated at Virginia Union University (1951) and Howard University Law School (1959). After graduating from law school, Wilder practiced law in Virginia until 1969, when he became the first black since the Reconstruction to be elected to the Virginia legislature. He served 16 years in the state senate, where he advocated fair housing legislation, labor-union rights for government employees, and increased minority hiring. In 1985 he was elected lieutenant governor of Virginia. Wilder was elected governor of the state in 1989.

A fiscally conservative Democrat, Wilder attracted national attention for his austere approach to Virginia's budget problems and for advocating drug testing of college students. In 1991 Wilder sought the Democratic presidential nomination, running as a centrist, but he failed to raise sufficient funds and withdrew from the race in January 1992. He made a nomination speech for vice-presidential candidate Al Gore at the Democratic National Convention later that year. Wilder vetoed a 1992 Virginia abortion bill that would have required parental consent for abortions on women 18 years old or younger. That year he also visited South Africa as part of a trade and culture mission to seven African countries. Barred by state law from seeking a second consecutive term as governor, Wilder left office in 1994. He became a professor at the Center for Public Policy of Virginia Commonwealth University in 1995.