George Lawrence Mabson facts for kids

George Lawrence Mabson was a member of the North Carolina House of Representatives and the North Carolina State Senate, as well as the North Carolina Constitutional Convention of 1875.

Mabson was the son of a black woman, Eliza Moore, and a prominent white man, George W. Mabson, in Wilmington, North Carolina. In the 1850s, he was sent to Boston to attend school. During the Civil War, Mabson first served in the United States Navy and then joined the 5th Massachusetts Cavalry Regiment.

After the war he became a political activist and was appointed a justice of the peace by Governor William W. Holden. After earning a degree from Howard University Law School in 1871, he became the first black lawyer in North Carolina. In 1874, he unsuccessfully ran for a seat in the United States House of Representatives.

He was the nephew of William B. Gould and corresponded with him frequently during the Civil War. In the 1880s, a child who is likely either his son or nephew lived with and worked for Gould in Dedham, Massachusetts.