Thomas Gillis Nutter

T. Gillis Nutter, first elected to the West Virginia Legislature in 1918. Thomas Gillis Nutter (1876–1959 ) was an attorney, businessman, and politician in Charleston, West Virginia, United States. Nutter is best remembered as a pioneer African-American member of the West Virginia Legislature, gaining election in 1918 and re-election in 1920 from an overwhelmingly white district, at a time when state disenfranchisement of blacks across the South had resulted in the exclusion of most blacks from statewide politics.

Nutter was active in the NAACP, serving as president for the West Virginia chapter in 1929, and in black fraternal organizations. In that role, Nutter was instrumental in bringing a suit in 1929 that ended the racial segregation of public libraries in West Virginia. In 1929, Nutter was admitted to the American Bar Association, although it officially barred African Americans.

The boys attended the segregated public schools in Maryland. Gillis, as he was known, showed an early interest in the law and jurisprudence. He attended Howard University, an historically black university in Washington, D.C., from which he graduated with a law degree in 1899. He had numerous cases and a high reputation as a criminal defense lawyer.

Nutter's father died shortly after Gillis graduated. He returned to Maryland to support his mother. During this period he was appointed to a position as principal of a school in Fairmount. He served in this position for two academic years, leaving in June 1901.

Nutter was re-elected to a second two-year term in November 1920. Upon hearing complaints that black citizens were being denied admission to public libraries, Nutter and fellow black attorney C. E. Kimbrough filed a writ of error with the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals.

Associations, personal and political

On December 18, 1920, Nutter had married Sarah Meriwether Nutter, a fellow Howard University graduate and teacher born in Washington, D.C. In 1909 while in college, she had been one of the founding members of Alpha Kappa Alpha, the nation's first sorority by and for African Americans.

Nutter was active in a number of fraternal orders. In 1913 he was elected the national leader of the Improved Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks of the World. Nutter served a one-year term as the order's "Grand Exalted Ruler," during which time he was credited for creating and reinstating more local lodges than at any time since a merger of the organization in 1910. His article featured the lives of 28 successful blacks, both male and female: business owners, professionals and educators, including his wife. He provided data on property owned crops produced, as well as other material on businesses.

Death and legacy Nutter died in Charleston on June 23, 1959. At the time of his death, he was living on 304 Elizabeth Street in the city's East End. He was buried at the Woodlawn Cemetery in Washington, D.C., on June 26, 1959.

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