Hobson R. Reynolds

Hobson R. Reynolds (September 13, 1898 – February 4, 1991) was an African-American funeral director, a state legislator, public official, judge, and civil rights leader who lived in Pennsylvania.

Early life Reynolds was born in Winton, North Carolina, on September 13, 1898. He attended North Carolina State Teachers Training School and Eckels College of Mortuary Science.

Career Reynolds was a well-known funeral home director in Philadelphia. He was heavily involved in politics and served as a Representative on the Pennsylvania House of Representatives as a Republican for the 1935 term, drafting the first civil rights legislation for the state titled the Reynolds Civil Rights Bill, and as a Democrat for the 1939 term. President Franklin D. Roosevelt chose Renyolds as an observer to the formation of the United Nations and Reynolds was appointed as Assistant Secretary to the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Improved Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks of the World Reynolds was a prominent member of the Improved Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks of the World, a Black fraternal organization. He joined in the early 1930s and became the Grand Director of the Civil Liberties Department in 1939. He investigated lynchings and racial discrimination, lobbied for justice and equality in government, law enforcement, and education, and urged African-Americans to register to vote. In the 1960s, he donated his 77-acre farm in Winton, North Carolina for the new national headquarters of the Elks National Shrine.

Later life Reynolds died on February 4, 1991 in Ahoskie, North Carolina. He is buried with his wife at the Hobson R. Reynolds National Elks Shrine in Winton, North Carolina.