Hutchins Franklin Inge (April 16, 1900 – March 28, 2002) was an Americanphysician andDemocratic Party politician. He was the first African American to serve in theNew Jersey Senate.

Inge was born inCharlottesville, Virginia, in 1900 to George and Kate Ferguson Inge. In May 1921 at theUniversity of Minnesota, Inge became a charter member of Xi chapter ofOmega Psi Phi fraternity. He graduated from the University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy andHoward University College of Medicine.^[1]

Inge began his medical practice inNewark, New Jersey, in 1936. He served on the staff of United Presbyterian Hospital in Newark and was also staff physician for the Newark Board of Health's Division of Child Hygiene. He was director of the Essex Urban League and a founder of the Council of Doers, professional men dedicated to community service. He was also a life member of theNAACP and a member of theAmerican Medical Association.^[1]

In 1965, at the age of 65, Inge was nominated by theEssex County Democratic organization as a candidate for theState Senate.^[2] He was one of four Senate candidates on the county slate, after a temporary reapportionment plan awarded Essex (as well asBergen County) the right to elect four instead of one senators. All four Democratic candidates were elected to office, in a year when GovernorRichard J. Hughes was reelected in a landslide and Democrats took control of both houses of the legislature.^[3]

During Inge's tenure in the Senate from 1966 to 1968, he served as the chairman of the Senate Federal and Interstate Relations Committee. He was a supporter of measures to aid education, transportation, and housing.^[4]

In 1970 Inge married Dorothy E. Helme and moved toOsterville, Massachusetts, onCape Cod. He continued his medical practice at his residence there until his retirement in 1995. His wife died on December 25, 1996, at the age of 82.^[5] Inge died on March 28, 2002, at the age of 101 atSt. Luke's Hospital inNew Bedford, Massachusetts, where he lived after his wife's death.

In 2007, GovernorJon Corzine signed a bill commemorating the achievements of Inge, along withWalter G. Alexander, the first African American to serve in theNew Jersey General Assembly.^[6]

• List of African-American officeholders (1900–1959)

• 1900 births
• 2002 deaths
• University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy alumni
• Howard University College of Medicine alumni
• Physicians from Newark, New Jersey
• African-American state legislators in New Jersey
• Democratic Party New Jersey state senators
• Politicians from Charlottesville, Virginia
• Politicians from Newark, New Jersey
• People from Osterville, Massachusetts
• African-American centenarians
• American men centenarians
• 20th-century American physicians
• 20th-century African-American politicians
• 20th-century members of the New Jersey Legislature

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