First Black Diplomat in U.S. History ~ William Alexander Leidesdorff, Jr.

Part 1

from 1993 Article in the Foreign Service Journal

Ambassador Horace G. Dawson Jr. is the director of the Patricia Roberts Harris Public Affairs Program and adjunct professor of communications at Howard University.

A man with the improbable name of William Alexander Leidesdorff was appointed United States vice consul in Yerba Buena, Mexico—better known today as San Francisco—on October 29, 1845. This area of California did not become officially part of the United States until well after the "Bear Flag" incident, an event that gave Leidesdorff his finest moment.

Many publications identify Ebenezer Don Carlos Bassett, minister to Haiti from 1869-1877, as "America's first black diplomat." However, Leidesdorff pre- ceded Bassett by almost a quarter of a century.

That Leidesdorff s role has not been previously recognized, nor definitively established, is perhaps due to the man himself. From his arrival on the west coast in 1840 until his death in 1848, he seems to have concealed the fact of his ancestry or at least to have made no reference to it. Colleagues recognized him as "dark in appearance" but made nothing of it.

Furthermore, Leidesdorff s diplomatic appointment came as a result of his success in business, not the other way around. One of the tnie pioneers in California history, he was a prosperous businessman and civic leader. He built the first hotel in San Francisco and was one of three prominent citizens who established that city's first public school.

Past experience also may have taught the young adventurer not to reveal the fact that he was of mixed racial background, born in St. Croix, Danish West Indies, in 1812 to Alexander Leidesdorff, a planter from Denmark, and Anna Maria Sparks, a native of the island. She also was of mixed blood. He was sent to Flensburg, Denmark, for his early education, and at age 12, he migrated to the United States, settling in New Orleans.

He achieved success as a merchant seaman, sailing to New York, the West Indies, and Europe, and became in his mid-30s a captain in charge of vessels for major companies. Granted American citizenship on February 25, 1834 in Louisiana, Leidesdorff appears also to have been prominent in New Orleans society.

Flight to California

His flight to California, according to press accounts, was the result of his confiding in his bride-to-be the facts of his ancestry. A member of a proud old French family, she passed the story on to her parents, who investigated, discovered the truth of it, and promptly broke off the engagement. As Louisiana was a slave state, it was necessary for Leidesdorff, not only broken-hearted but also in danger of enslavement, to leave the state hurriedly.

He did so, setting sail for New York and later the west coast on the schooner, Julia Ann in 1840, arriving on the west coast in June 1841, seven months after his departure from New York. For three years, Leidesdorff continued as master of the ship, sailing up and down the California coast with a cargo of hides and tallow to be traded at each port. These products were normally exchanged for knives, thread, and meat, as well as produce such as beans, wheat, and vegetables.

Mexico was governing authority of the territoiy. However, France, Great Britain, and Russia, in addition to the United States, were very active in the area—the fur trade attracted widespread interest. In 1842, Leidesdorff purchased his first property in Yerba Buena. He built a warehouse in the town the following year and soon became prominent in commerce and civic affairs, operating a provisions store, arranging shipping for other merchants, and opening a hotel, which catered to sailors. In 1847. he was elected to the San Francisco City Council.

Leidesdorff was appointed vice consul by Thomas O. Larkin, United States consul at Monterey, and one of the great and controversial figures in California history. Beyond representing U.S. diplomatic and commercial interests in the territory, Larkin's larger mission was to win California for the United States and, in the words of historian Hubert Howe Bancroft, "to defeat the schemes, real or imaginary, of European nations supposed to be intriguing for the same prize."