Millard F. Singleton

Millard Filmore Singleton (November 14, 1859 – November 12, 1939) was an early black political leader and civil servant in Omaha Nebraska. He was an officer in the Omaha Colored Republican Club and the Omaha branch of the National Afro-American League. He held posts as Justice of the Peace, storekeeper in the United States Internal Revenue Service,^[1] recorder of deeds for the city, and as bailiff of the municipal court.^[2]

Life

Singleton was born in November 14, 1859^[2] in Virginia near Washington, D.C.. In 1881 he married Blanche Ellen Braxton and came to Omaha in 1883^[3] with his brother, Walter J. Singleton. He had two daughters, Bessie May and Amelia, and three sons, Millard F. Jr (who was called Guy), Clarence, and John.^[4] Clarence and John were prominent dentists in Omaha and John served a term in the state legislature and was an active member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Guy's daughter, Constance, married Nebraska congressman John Adams, Jr.. Millard Singleton died Sunday, November 12, 1939 in Omaha.^[2]

Career

He was closely associated with state legislator M. O. Ricketts, and in 1889 was elected vice president of an Omaha Colored Republican Club led by Ricketts and chairman and A. H. Willis as president^[5] and was president in 1896^[6] and 1912.^[7]

In 1890, he helped form a Nebraska branch of the Afro-American League in Omaha, where he was an officer^[8] and was the Nebraska representative to the Colored Men's convention.^[9] He represented Omaha on the national stage again as an alternate at the 1892 Republican National Convention in Minneapolis^[10]

In 1895, he was named a Justice of the Peace in the Eighth Ward in Omaha and was the Republican nominee for a seat in the state legislature to replace M. O. Ricketts in 1896, but lost.^[11] In 1904 he was appointed recorder of deeds of the city.^[12] In August of 1906, black members of the Omaha community formed a group called the "Progressive League of Douglas County", led by Father John Albert Williams, to pressure the county Republicans to include blacks on the legislative ticket, in particular Singleton^[13] and Singleton was again a candidate in the republican primary of the legislature in 1912, again losing.^[14]

On the evening of April 16, 1930, two men placed an iron cross covered with oil-soaked burlap on the lawn of Singleton's son, John, and set it afire. John was away, but his wife and niece were there. Millard arrived shortly and tore down the cross in front of a large crowd.^[15]

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