A native of Limington, Maine, Black graduated from Dartmouth College in 1875 and moved to New York, where he edited and reported for newspapers in Johnstown and Troy.

Black became involved in politics by giving speeches for Republican candidates and serving as chairman of the party in Rensselaer County.

He was an unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1898, losing at the party's state convention to Theodore Roosevelt, who went on to win the general election.

After leaving office, Black resumed the practice of law and remained active in politics as a campaign speaker for Republican candidates.

[4] A member of the Half-Breed faction of the Republican Party and follower of James G. Blaine,[5] Black changed the political stance of the paper while its publisher was out of town, for which he was promptly fired.

[1] While working as a night reporter, clerk in the Troy post office, and process server, he studied law at the firm of Robertson & Foster.

[6] Largely as the result of publicity from the Ross murder case,[8] in November 1894, Black was elected to the 54th United States Congress, representing New York's 19th congressional district.

[1] A highlight of his governorship was completion of construction on the New York State Capitol, which had fallen far behind schedule and had been plagued with cost overruns.

[1] Under his leadership, 16,000 New York soldiers were raised, trained, and equipped for accession into the United States Army as it expanded for the war.

[11]) Late in Black's term, state officials were accused of squandering taxpayer money on a project to expand the Erie Canal, which had come to be regarded as a boondoggle because of delays and excessive costs.

[12] Black's chances for reelection were jeopardized, so Republicans replaced him as their 1898 gubernatorial nominee with Theodore Roosevelt, who had recently attained hero status in Cuba during the Spanish–American War.

[13] Roosevelt won the November general election by narrowly defeating Democratic nominee Augustus Van Wyck.

[20] Later that year, he was a candidate for the Republican nomination for United States Senator, but withdrew in favor of incumbent Chauncey Depew, who went on to win reelection.