Judge Richard Call Long

15 May 1846 – 17 January 1910

     Richard Call Long was the son of Ellen Call Long and Medicus Long. He was born in Tallahassee and spent many years there. After the start of the Civil War, Richard Call Long – at the encouragement of his grandfather and territorial governor Richard Call Long – joined the Confederacy as a courier.[1] He served in Company C, Fifth Battalion of the Florida Cavalry.[2] Shortly after, he spent some time with his father Texas where he studied law. On a trip back to Tallahassee to visit his mother, he met Cora Gamble and they married in 1873. Within the year they welcomed their firstborn, Reinette Gamble Long. He and his family lived at The Grove, where Richard Call Long, Jr. was born in 1883.[3] Richard Call Long Sr. was publicly and openly a white supremacist. He vehemently opposed any political or legal move that would allow African Americans the right to vote or the ability to hold any political or economic power. He appealed to ideas of white masculinity and incited fears of a race war to gain the support of white Floridians against African Americans.[4] When Richard and Cora decided to remain in Tallahassee, Richard practiced law and became an author, writing articles and advertisements for newspapers and magazines, eventually becoming a judge.[5] They lived at The Grove for many years until Richard passed away in 1910.

[1] Menton, The Grove, 122

[2] “Venerable Judge Long Passed Away,” The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.), 25 Jan. 1910. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn87062268/1910-01-25/ed-1/seq-3/

[3] Menton, The Grove, 36-38

[4] Paul Ortiz, Emancipation Betrayed: The Hidden History of Black Organizing and White Violence in Florida from Reconstruction to the Bloody Election of 1920, 44-45

[5] “Judge Richard Call Long Passes Away,” The weekly true Democrat. (Tallahassee, Fla.), 21 Jan. 1910. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn95047417/1910-01-21/ed-1/seq-9/