African American Congressmen

Although African American played a role in politics from the earliest days of their arrival in the New World, opportunities to win elected office were essentially non-existant until after the Civil War. Between 1869 and 1901, there were twenty blacks in the U.S. House of Representatives and there were two U.S. Senators. The number of African Americans in the U.S. Congress would not be this high again until the 1960's. The first two African American Senators were Hiram Revels and Blanche K. Bruce. With the end of Reconstruction and the rise of Jim Crow laws, African Americans in many communities lost voting rights and the chance to win elected office. The third African American to serve as a U.S. Senator was Edward E. Brooke who was elected in 1966.

Below is information about selected African American politicians from the ninteenth century.

There were two African Americans elected to office who represented the state of Mississippi.

Hiram Revels

Elected: February 25,1870

Blanche K. Bruce

Elected: March 5, 1875

born free in North Carolina
attended Knox College in Illinois
school principal in Baltimore (before settling in Mississippi)
planter
sheriff
state legislator
county school superintendent
served in the Union Army
studied in seminary
rose to the post of presiding elder in the African Methodist Church
elected to the Natchez City Council
Revel at age 42 became the 1st African American Senator in History of 1870 (not a full term)

1st Black to serve a full term in the U.S. Senate
tax assessor for Bolivar Co. Mississippi
sheriff
superintendent of public schools
by 1874, owned a 1,000 acre farm
1880-proposed for Vice President (withdrew in favor of Chester Arthur )
appointed registrar of the U.S.
Treasury by President James A. Garfield
elected on 3 committees: Pensions; Manufactures; Education and Labor
attempted to convince the senators to seat Governor Pinchback
Organized Missouri first school for blacks
sergeant-at-arms of the state senate

Edward E. Brooke was the third Senator who served in 1966.

U.S. House of Representatives:
Robert Smalls - mulatto (father was a popular white man)

Thomas Ezekiel Miller

George Washington Murray - "there is not a drop of white blood running in his veins, but his voice did not show his African origin" Tindall, George B., South Carolina Negros 1877-1900. U of South Carolina Press. 1952.

Jonathan A. Baxter - elected in 1884

Bruce H. Williams - elected in 1884

John W. Bolts - elected in 1898

Governors:

Governor Pinchback

son of white father and black mother (mulatto)
set free by father
attended school in Cincinnati
worked on river boats
enlisted in Union Army
Captain in the Louisiana Native Guards
Active in Republican Party politics Louisiana 1867 -