Earl Leroy Brewer was the Governor of Mississippi from 1912 to 1916. Elected as a Democrat, he was unopposed in the primary and won the governorship without ever making a single public campaign speech.
Biography
Brewer was born in Carroll County, Mississippi, near the town of Vaiden. His father, Ratliff Rodney Brewer, had been a farmer, plantation manager and overseer, and a captain in the Confederate Army during the Civil War. His middle name came from his grandfather, Leroy Brewer, a Mississippi Delta pioneer who migrated from Elbert County, Georgia during the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek. His uncle Leroy Jasper Brewer, who was mayor of Holcomb at the time of Earl's gubernatorial election, died just weeks before his nephew's inauguration. Brewer attended the University of Mississippi and after less than one year of study, obtained a Bachelor of Law degree in 1892. He immediately began practicing law and then was elected to the Mississippi State Senate in 1895. In 1902 he was appointed district attorney for the 11th District. In 1907 he resigned his position as district attorney in order to run for governor. Brewer was narrowly defeated in his first attempt but won handily in the next campaign. As governor, Brewer promoted progressive reforms in several areas. The constitution was changed to create an elective judiciary; banking laws were established to limit interest rates; and a Bureau of Vital Statistics was created. During his term there was a severe epidemic of pellagra in the state and other portions of the South. When the federal government sent Joseph Goldberger to study the disease and find a cure, Brewer offered full pardons to convicts who would participate in Goldberger's experiments. As a result of these studies, it was determined that pellagra was caused by a vitamin deficiency. After his term was over, Brewer assisted in the defense of three Black defendants accused of murder who had been convicted on the basis of coerced confessions. Brewer argued and won their appeal to the United States Supreme Court in Brown v. Mississippi. Brewer later ran unsuccessfully for U.S. Senate in 1924. Brewer died in Jackson and is buried at Oakridge Cemetery in Clarksdale.
Notable Relatives
Leroy Brewer I - Grandfather and namesake of Gov. Brewer. He was an early Mississippi Delta pioneer; traveling from Elbert County, GA with his brother William Fletcher Brewer.
Mayor John Ratliff Brewer - 1st Cousin - Mayor of Holcomb, MS.
Dr. Walter Chew Brewer - 2nd Cousin - Mississippi's foremost surgeon at the time of his death. Killed in a pistol battle near the hospital that he owned.
