Robert Gleed

Robert Gleed Sr. (c. 1836 – July 24, 1916), was an American politician, merchant, and civic leader.

Biography Robert Gleed Sr. was born in about 1836 into slavery in Virginia.

Gleed was elected to Mississippi state legislature in either 1869, or 1870.

He resigned from the state senate in 1873 after violent white mobs lynched seven "recalcitrant blacks". He had four children. After several of his fellow African Americans were killed before an election in 1875, he relocated to Paris, Texas. He later returned to Columbus, Mississippi, but fled again after white mobs threatened him.

He campaigned for sheriff in Lowndes County in 1875. He met with leading Democratic Party representatives and attempted to appease them before the election. He was unsuccessful, and his home was attacked and burned as well as some of his neighbors' homes.

He died on July 24, 1916, in Harris County, Texas. Gleed is buried at Sandfield Cemetery in Columbus, Mississippi.