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Capitol Personalities
Samuel Pierce (1870-1936)
Governors' Gatekeeper
"His smile was contagious, his courtesy and diplomacy unfailing."
Samuel Pierce was born in New Orleans in 1870 to parents who'd been enslaved. His father was a judge and legislator in Louisiana until Jim Crow laws ended his career.
In 1888, Pierce took a job as a Pullman porter, serving white travelers on cross-country railroad trips. While working on the Chicago–Minneapolis route in 1905, Pierce got to know Wisconsin government officials and he and his family moved to Madison in 1907.
In 1925, Governor John Blaine hired Pierce as a receptionist. He handled visitors so well that he went on to serve as the receptionist for five governors.
Standing over six feet tall and always dressed impeccably in a blue suit, Pierce protected the governors from unwanted intrusions.
Pierce was also a leader in Madison's African American neighborhood. He resolved disputes, fought discrimination in public accommodations, and lobbied for a community center and a residence hall for black students at the University of Wisconsin.
When Pierce died on May 15, 1936, six governors paid tribute to him in the press and obituaries praised him in newspapers across the state. |