Blanche K. Bruce - MS • Escaped slavery at the start of

the Civil War • First African American to serve a

full term in the Senate• First African American to preside

over a session of the Senate• Called for desegregation of the

Army and better treatment of American Indians.

Richard H. Cain -SC• Spoke in Congress on behalf of the 1875 Civil

Rights Act, which outlawed segregation but was later overturned.

• Introduced a bill to use proceeds from public land sales to support southern schools serving both African American and white children.

• Supported black emigration to Liberia• Leader of the African Methodist Episcopal

Church• Responsible for the establishment of churches

throughout South Carolina.

Henry P. Cheatham - NC• Member of the House Expenditures on

Public Buildings and Agriculture committees. • Born a slave & attended public schools • Earned a masters degree from Shaw

University in 1887. • Helped found the North Carolina Colored

Orphanage at Oxford • Requested Congress appropriate money for

an exhibit of Black arts, crafts, and industrial and agricultural products and to establish a bi-racial panel to assess the education, financial, and social progress of black Americans.

Robert De Large - SC

• on the Manufactures committee• De Large called for greater

protection of African Americans from white supremacist groups.

• the district’s former Democratic representative contested the election and De Large lost his seat two months prior to serving a full term

Robert Elliott - SC• Born in Liverpool, England - graduated from Eton

College in England• Served on the Education and Labor and Militia

committees. • As a delegate to the South Carolina constitutional

convention in 1868, he defeated the imposition of poll taxes and literacy tests that would prevent Blacks from voting.

• Gave major speeches in Congress on behalf of the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871 and the Civil Rights Act of 1875. In 1872,

• Re-elected to the House of Representatives with 93 percent of his district’s vote.

• Studied law and established his own practice.• Resigned to become Speaker of the South Carolina

House of Representatives.

Jeremiah Haralson - AL• Known for being a powerful orator• Supported amnesty for former Confederates• Opposed the use of federal troops to quell

violence in the South during the presidential election of 1876.

• He served just one term• was assigned to the Public Expenditures

committee. • Former Slave who taught himself to read and

write• Farmer and a minister prior to entering

politics.

John Hyman - NC

• Former slave• Served on the Manufactures

committee• Served in North Carolina's

State Senate for six years prior to his election to the U.S. House

• Introduced a number of bills on behalf of his constituents

John Langston - VA

• Served one term after successfully contesting the election of another candidate

• Member of the Education committee• Tried to establish a national industrial

university for African Americans• Attempted to appoint black applicants to

United States Naval Academy• Inspector general of the Freedmen's

Bureau• Founded Howard's law school

Jefferson Long - GA

• Only African American to represent Georgia during Reconstruction.

• Former slave• First black representative to

address the House. • Gave a speech in opposition to a bill

that would modify the oath required of former Confederates, allowing them to qualify for public office.

John Lynch - MS• Youngest member of the 43rd Congress• Assigned to the Mines and Mining,

Education and Labor, and Militia committees• Lynch was a strong advocate for the Civil

Rights Bill of 1875• Beginning in 1972, Lynch was a delegate to

all but one Republican National Convention over a period of twenty-eight years.

• Lynch was also the first African American to deliver the keynote address at either a Republican or Democratic national convention.

• The last black Congressman from Mississippi until 1987, he had been enslaved until the Union Army freed him in 1864.

Thomas Miller - SC

• Successfully contesting another candidate's election

• Assigned to the Library of Congress committee.

• Gave two important speeches on the floor, one supporting federal oversight of elections and protection of voters, and another defending African Americans from blame for the South's economic problems

George Murray - SC

• Successfully contested the election of William Elliott

• Served on the Expenditures in the Treasury and Education committees

• Fought for federal protection of voting rights in the South

• Advocated for the recognition of African American contributions to the nation's economic progress.

Charles Nash - LA

• Former sergeant for the Union army

• Nash spoke on the House floor in support of enforcing laws to protect freedmen

• Urged the establishment of public schools in the South

• Served on the Education and Labor committee.

James O'Hara - NC

• Served on the Mines and Mining, Expenditures on Public Buildings, and Invalid Pensions committees

• Proposed a civil rights amendment to the Constitution

• Supported equal pay for male and female teachers

• First African American admitted to the North Carolina Bar.

Joseph Rainey - SC• Born in slavery• Advocate for the 1871 Ku Klux Act

and the 1875 Civil Rights Act• Assigned to the Freedmen's Affairs,

Indian Affairs, and Invalid Pensions committees

• He became the first African American to preside over a session in the House of Representatives when he took over for the Speaker of the House during a debate on an Indian appropriation bill in 1874.

Alonzo Ransier - SC

• Served on the Manufactures committee.

• Outspoken advocate for the passage of the 1875 Civil Rights Act,

• He abstained from voting on the bill because it failed to address the segregation of public schools.

James Rapier - AL

• Assigned to the Education and Labor committee

• Rapier proposed an office to help blacks acquire land in the West and allocation of $5 million for public schools in the South

• Secured the passage of a bill to make Alabama's capital a federal port of delivery

• Asked Congress to provide greater financial oversight of southern land grant colleges.

Hiram Revels - MS• First African American to serve in

Congress - filled the seat of Jefferson Davis.

• Assigned to the Education and Labor and District of Columbia committees

• Not an outspoken advocate for racial equality, but opposed amendment to keep schools segregated in Washington, D.C. and

• Assisted black mechanics prohibited from working at the Washington Navy Yard

Robert Smalls - SC

• Enslaved until May 1862, when he piloted a Confederate army ship into Union waters.

• Fought segregation in the military, railroads, and Washington, D.C. eating establishments

• Opposed African American emigration to the western United States and Liberia

• Served on the Agriculture, Militia, Manufactures, and War Claims committees.

Benjamin Turner - AL• Former slave• Established a school for black

children• Sponsored a bill requiring the

federal government to purchase southern land and sell tracts to freedmen

• Member of the Invalid Pensions committee

• Helped pass two bills authorizing payments for Civil War veterans

Josiah Walls - FL• Twice unseated by opponents who claimed he

had been elected unfairly.• Born in slavery• Servant in the Confederate army until his

regiment was captured by Union troops.• Advocate for improvements within his state• Supported a national fund for education• Proposed the nomination of future black

Congressman John Mercer Langston to serve as vice president of the United States

• Served on the Militia, Mileage, and Expenditures in the Navy Department committees.

George White - NC• Last African American to serve in Congress until

1928• Served on the Agriculture and District of

Columbia committees• Introduced first bill to make lynching a federal

crime punishable by death• Called for reducing Congressional representation

of states where Blacks were unable to vote• Strong advocate for public education in the South• Founded an all-black town in New Jersey and

established a bank to serve African American entrepreneurs and homebuyers.

19th Century Black Congressmen

• http://www.avoiceonline.org/cbc/bios19th.html