John William Bolts

John William Bolts (1861–1921) was a state legislator in South Carolina. He was elected in 1898 and 1900 from Georgetown, South Carolina^[1] and served in the South Carolina House of Representatives. Bolts was the last African American to serve in the South Carolina House of Representatives for seven decades that followed.

Bolts succeeded Robert B. Anderson as the African American representative for the Georgetown County fusion ticket.^[2]

He was married to Gertrude Ford Bolts and had four children. He studied at Benedict College.^[3]

References

1. Roche, Ramona La (April 21, 2000). Georgetown County, South Carolina. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 9780738503479 – via Google Books.
2. Burke, William Lewis (November 1, 2017). All for Civil Rights: African American Lawyers in South Carolina, 1868-1968. University of Georgia Press. ISBN 9780820350981 – via Google Books.
3. "John William Bolts (1861-1921)". www.gcdigital.org.

Further reading

• "For We are Making History": John W. Bolts and Archival Memory in South Carolina", Valerie McLaurin (2020). International Gullah Geechee and African Diaspora Conference. 3.

External links

• Coastal Carolina M.A. candidate N. Valerie McLaurin's account of researching Bolts (She is now a graduate student and teaching assistant at the University of Georgia)