John E. Proctor

John Elijah Proctor (January 14, 1844 – December 14, 1944) was an American politician in the state of Florida. A former slave, he served in the Florida House of Representatives from 1873 to 1875, and 1879 to 1881, and in the Florida Senate from 1883 to 1885. Though he was born free, he was sold as a slave at a young age to family friends to pay off debts that his father had incurred purchasing an enslaved woman who became his wife.