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IBRA CHARLES BLACKWOOD was born in Blackwood, South Carolina. He attended both Furman University and Wofford College, graduating from Wofford in 1898. He went on to study law and was admitted to the South Carolina Bar in 1902, after which he went into private practice in Spartanburg. He was a member of the South Carolina House of Representatives from 1902 to 1906, a U.S. Revenue Agent for South Carolina from 1914 to 1916, and Solicitor of the Seventh Judicial Circuit of South Carolina from 1916 to 1930. After waging an unsuccessful campaign for governor in 1926, Blackwood won the 1930 Democratic gubernatorial primary and runoff elections, promising judicial reform. As governor, he signed legislation creating the South Carolina Public Service Authority, which later constructed the Santee-Cooper dams. During Blackwood’s administration, a strike of textile workers resulted in the death of seven strikers in Honea Path, South Carolina. In addition, legislation was enacted to tax hydroelectric and steam power. While governor, Blackwood extended the paved highway system in South Carolina, and he created a special Board of Bank Control during the bank crisis of 1933 which he chaired with emergency authority, giving the governor virtual control over the banking system. After leaving office, resumed his law practice in Spartanburg.

Sources:

Sobel, Robert, and John Raimo, eds. Biographical Directory of the Governors of the United States, 1789-1978, Vol. 4. Westport, CT: Meckler Books, 1978. 4 vols.

The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Vol. 28. New York: James T. White & Company.

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