John R. Good

John R. Good (1815 – April 1878) was an American barber and politician. Born enslaved in 1815, he was emancipated by legislative act in 1855 and ran a successful barbering business in New Bern, North Carolina before the outbreak of the American Civil War. Good emerged as a leading figure in New Bern's black community during the war and assisted with war refugee relief efforts. In April 1864, he was part of a delegation of six black eastern North Carolina civic leaders which met with U.S. President Abraham Lincoln at the White House to advocate for the political rights of freedmen. In September 1865 he was heavily involved in a statewide convention of freedmen which met in Raleigh. He attended a subsequent convention the following year. A member of the Republican Party, he was elected to New Bern's board of alderman in 1869 and 1870 and served in the North Carolina House of Representatives from 1874 to 1875. He died in 1878.