Henry G. Connor (/m/026_d16)

Henry Groves Connor was a North Carolina politician and jurist, and a United States federal judge. Born in Wilmington, North Carolina, Connor read law to enter the bar in 1871. He was in private practice in Wilson, North Carolina from 1871 to 1885. He was elected to a term in the North Carolina Senate in 1885, and served as a North Carolina Superior Court judge from 1885 to 1893. He returned to private practice in Wilson from 1893 to 1903. In 1898, he took part in the "White Supremacy" campaign, traveling the state to speak on behalf of the Democratic Party. According to an official state report on the Wilmington Insurrection of 1898, "Connor’s correspondence and speeches repeatedly indicated that he was 'willing to go a very long way to remove the negro from the politics of the state' as he was 'managing a campaign of which I shall never be ashamed.' Although definitely on the side of white supremacy, Connor reflected the concerns of conservative Democrats when he hoped 'that the present conditions may pass away without violence or bloodshed and that our whole people may be wiser and understand each other better.'