Seaborn Roddenbery
Encyclopedia
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
member of the U.S. House of Representatives for the state of Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
. He was elected to the 61st Congress to replace the deceased James M. Griggs
James M. Griggs
James Mathews Griggs was a U.S. Representative from Georgia.Born in Lagrange, Georgia, Griggs attended the common schools and was graduated from the Peabody Normal College, Nashville, Tennessee, in 1881....
, and re-elected to the 62nd and 63rd Congresses before dying in office.
Born on a farm in Decatur County, Georgia
Decatur County, Georgia
Decatur County is a county located in the U.S. state of Georgia. As of 2000, the population was 28,240. The 2007 Census Estimate shows a population of 28,544. The county seat is Bainbridge.-History:...
, Roddenbery attended Mercer University
Mercer University
Mercer University is an independent, private, coeducational university with a Baptist heritage located in the U.S. state of Georgia. Mercer is the only university of its size in the United States that offers programs in eleven diversified fields of study: liberal arts, business, education, music,...
for three years, but was forced to withdraw due to family finances. In 1891, he was elected to represent his home district in the Georgia House of Representatives
Georgia House of Representatives
The Georgia House of Representatives is the lower house of the Georgia General Assembly of the U.S. state of Georgia.-Composition:...
. After two terms, he was appointed professor of Language and Mathematics at South Georgia College
South Georgia College
South Georgia College is a two-year, state-supported, residential junior college located in Douglas, Georgia, United States.-Affiliation/Accreditation:...
. In 1894, after reading law
Reading law
Reading law is the method by which persons in common law countries, particularly the United States, entered the legal profession before the advent of law schools. This usage specifically refers to a means of entering the profession . A small number of U.S...
and being admitted to the practice of law in Georgia, Roddenberry resigned his academic position. He spent the next few years building a private practice and networking within the Georgia political structure. During this time, Rodenberry was the president of the Thomas County, Georgia
Thomas County, Georgia
Thomas County is a county located in the U.S. state of Georgia. The 2010 Census showed a population of 44,720. The county seat is Thomasville.-History:...
, Board of Education from 1895 to 1898 and was appointed to that county's court as a judge from 1897 to 1901.
Rodenberry was elected mayor of Thomasville, Georgia
Thomasville, Georgia
Thomasville is the county seat of Thomas County, Georgia, United States. The city is the second largest in Southwest Georgia after Albany.The city deems itself the City of Roses and holds an annual Rose Festival. The town features plantations open to the public, a historic downtown, a large...
, and served in that position from 1903 to 1904. In 1910, he was elected to represent Georgia's 2nd congressional district
Georgia's 2nd congressional district
Georgia's 2nd congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of Georgia. One of the largest districts by size, it takes in most of the southwestern fourth of the state of Georgia...
in the United States House of Representatives
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
for the remainder of the 61st United States Congress
61st United States Congress
The Sixty-first United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, DC from March 4, 1909 to March 4, 1911, during the first two years of...
when that seat fell vacant due to the death of James M. Griggs
James M. Griggs
James Mathews Griggs was a U.S. Representative from Georgia.Born in Lagrange, Georgia, Griggs attended the common schools and was graduated from the Peabody Normal College, Nashville, Tennessee, in 1881....
. Rodenberry was reelected to the 62nd
62nd United States Congress
- House of Representatives :* Democratic : 230 * Republican : 162* Socialist : 1* Independent : 1TOTAL members: 394-Senate:* President: James S...
and 63rd
63rd United States Congress
- House of Representatives:*Democratic : 291 *Republican : 134*Progressive : 9*Independent : 1TOTAL members: 435-Senate:*President of the Senate: Thomas R. Marshall*President pro tempore: James P. Clarke-Senate:...
Congresses; however, he died in Thomasville on September 25, 1913, while in office and was buried in that city's Laurel Hill Cemetery
Laurel Hill Cemetery
Laurel Hill Cemetery, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is the second major garden or rural cemetery in the United States. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1998, one of only a few cemeteries to receive the distinction....
.
The reputation Roddenbery had already garnered in Georgia as a skillful and inspiring orator was renewed in the nation’s capitol. Quick of both tongue and wit and possessed of a natural elegance of bearing and speech, he won the awe of fellow Congressmen who were amazed at how much he could fit the extremely limited speaking time he was often allotted on the House floor.
Roddenbery earned a reputation as an extreme conservative on fiscal matters. He was particularly militant in his opposition to increasing the pensions of Civil War veterans, a position mostly attributable to the fact that the thousands of surviving Confederate veterans in Georgia, a state that endured some of the worst destruction of the war, were ineligible for Federal pensions under the 14th Amendment and Georgians were adamantly opposed to having their tax dollars subsidize the pensions of former enemies.
Roddenbery's most lasting reputation, however, was as an ardent believer in racial separatism, institutionalized white supremacy and as the nation’s most passionate opponent of mixed race marriages, views that were on the most conservative end even of the spectrum of the early 20th century. The marriage of African American boxer Jack Johnson
Jack Johnson (boxer)
John Arthur Johnson , nicknamed the “Galveston Giant,” was an American boxer. At the height of the Jim Crow era, Johnson became the first African American world heavyweight boxing champion...
to Lucille Cameron (which was, in fact, his second marriage to a white woman) incited Roddenbery to a series of blistering denunciations of Johnson in particular and interracial marriage in general in speeches across the country and on the floor of the House of representatives. In January 1913 he introduced H.J. Res 368, a bill proposing a Constitutional amendment to outlaw interracial marriages in the states where it was legal and ban it nationwide. Obsessed with the topic, Roddenbery used any opportunity to deliver philippic
Philippic
A philippic is a fiery, damning speech, or tirade, delivered to condemn a particular political actor. The term originates with Demosthenes, who delivered several attacks on Philip II of Macedon in the 4th century BC....
s against Negro men who married white women and to further promote his bill, usually to applause in the House of Representatives.
A heavy smoker of cigars, Roddenbery's political career was cut short by throat cancer
Esophageal cancer
Esophageal cancer is malignancy of the esophagus. There are various subtypes, primarily squamous cell cancer and adenocarcinoma . Squamous cell cancer arises from the cells that line the upper part of the esophagus...
that forced his retirement from active participation in Congress only a few weeks after the failure of H.J. Res 368. Depression and medication added a mental collapse to the physical ailments that claimed his life at his home in Georgia in late summer.