Okla-homey
2/25/2008, 07:50 AM
February 25, 1870: First black congressman sworn in
http://aycu04.webshots.com/image/46123/2002557952968909566_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2002557952968909566)
Hiram Rhoades Revels
138 years ago today, Hiram Rhoades Revels, a Republican from Natchez, Mississippi, is sworn into the U.S. Senate, becoming the first black person ever to sit in Congress.
During the Civil War, Revels, a college-educated minister born in Fayetteville NC to a free black man and a mixed race mom, helped form black army regiments for the Union cause, started a school for freed men, and served as a chaplain to a federal regiment. Posted to Mississippi, Revels remained in the former Confederate state after the war and entered into Reconstruction-era Southern politics.
http://aycu30.webshots.com/image/47069/2002528464048773216_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2002528464048773216)
Church in Natchez Revels pastored when he was appointed to the Senate by the Mississippi legislature
In 1867, the first Reconstruction Act was passed by a Republican-dominated U.S. Congress, dividing the South into five military districts and granting suffrage to all male citizens, regardless of race. A politically mobilized black community joined with white allies in the Southern states to elect the Republican party to power, which in turn brought about radical changes across the South.
http://aycu09.webshots.com/image/44408/2001585898184836098_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2001585898184836098)
The five military districts created to manage reconstruction in the post-war South.
By 1870, all the former Confederate states had been readmitted to the Union, and most were controlled by the Republican Party, thanks in large part to the support of newly freed black voters.
On January 20, 1870, Hiram R. Revels was elected by the Mississippi legislature to fill the Senate seat once held by Jefferson Davis, the former president of the Confederacy. On February 25, two days after Mississippi was granted representation in Congress for the first time since it seceded in 1861, Revels was sworn in.
http://aycu30.webshots.com/image/46789/2002594103037583998_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2002594103037583998)
Contemporary cartoon depicting Jeff Davis and Revels in Davis' old senate seat.
Although black Republicans never obtained political office in proportion to their overwhelming electoral majority, Revels and some 15 other black men served in Congress during Reconstruction, more than 600 served in state legislatures, and hundreds of black held local offices.
http://aycu38.webshots.com/image/46157/2005198744277547476_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2005198744277547476)
Pictured here are the first group of black men to be seated in Congress. Senator Hiram R. Revels among Representatives Benjamin S. Turner, Josiah T. Walls, Joseph H. Rainey, Robert Brown Elliot, Robert D. De Large, and Jefferson H. Long.
It all ended when the "reconstruction" era ended. After the Federal occupation forces had left by 1877, the former Confederate states reverted to local control and whites in those states utilized various schemes that were effective in denying black folks the vote until late in the 1950's. To date, Revels is among eight black people to have ever served in the US Senate. One of them looks like he will win his party's nomination for the presidency this summer.
http://aycu24.webshots.com/image/43943/2002511874090944909_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2002511874090944909)
Graphic depicting total number of black members of Congress elected/appointed by state. Reconstruction era members are included in the totals for each state.
Revels resigned two months before his term expired and was appointed the first president of Alcorn Agricultural and Mechanical College (now Alcorn State University) located in Claiborne County, Mississippi, where he also taught philosophy.
http://aycu24.webshots.com/image/46223/2001805774859977450_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2001805774859977450)
Revels' senate term was an abbreviated because he was elected to complete the term vacated ten years earlier by Jefferson Davis, who left the Senate to become the president of the Confederacy. Hiram Revels died on January 16, 1901, while attending a church conference in Aberdeen, Mississippi.
http://aycu23.webshots.com/image/44062/2002590628676939128_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2002590628676939128)
Revels is buried in Hillcrest Cemetery, at Holly Springs MS
http://aycu38.webshots.com/image/46517/2002596634731855996_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2002596634731855996)
http://aycu04.webshots.com/image/46123/2002557952968909566_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2002557952968909566)
Hiram Rhoades Revels
138 years ago today, Hiram Rhoades Revels, a Republican from Natchez, Mississippi, is sworn into the U.S. Senate, becoming the first black person ever to sit in Congress.
During the Civil War, Revels, a college-educated minister born in Fayetteville NC to a free black man and a mixed race mom, helped form black army regiments for the Union cause, started a school for freed men, and served as a chaplain to a federal regiment. Posted to Mississippi, Revels remained in the former Confederate state after the war and entered into Reconstruction-era Southern politics.
http://aycu30.webshots.com/image/47069/2002528464048773216_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2002528464048773216)
Church in Natchez Revels pastored when he was appointed to the Senate by the Mississippi legislature
In 1867, the first Reconstruction Act was passed by a Republican-dominated U.S. Congress, dividing the South into five military districts and granting suffrage to all male citizens, regardless of race. A politically mobilized black community joined with white allies in the Southern states to elect the Republican party to power, which in turn brought about radical changes across the South.
http://aycu09.webshots.com/image/44408/2001585898184836098_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2001585898184836098)
The five military districts created to manage reconstruction in the post-war South.
By 1870, all the former Confederate states had been readmitted to the Union, and most were controlled by the Republican Party, thanks in large part to the support of newly freed black voters.
On January 20, 1870, Hiram R. Revels was elected by the Mississippi legislature to fill the Senate seat once held by Jefferson Davis, the former president of the Confederacy. On February 25, two days after Mississippi was granted representation in Congress for the first time since it seceded in 1861, Revels was sworn in.
http://aycu30.webshots.com/image/46789/2002594103037583998_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2002594103037583998)
Contemporary cartoon depicting Jeff Davis and Revels in Davis' old senate seat.
Although black Republicans never obtained political office in proportion to their overwhelming electoral majority, Revels and some 15 other black men served in Congress during Reconstruction, more than 600 served in state legislatures, and hundreds of black held local offices.
http://aycu38.webshots.com/image/46157/2005198744277547476_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2005198744277547476)
Pictured here are the first group of black men to be seated in Congress. Senator Hiram R. Revels among Representatives Benjamin S. Turner, Josiah T. Walls, Joseph H. Rainey, Robert Brown Elliot, Robert D. De Large, and Jefferson H. Long.
It all ended when the "reconstruction" era ended. After the Federal occupation forces had left by 1877, the former Confederate states reverted to local control and whites in those states utilized various schemes that were effective in denying black folks the vote until late in the 1950's. To date, Revels is among eight black people to have ever served in the US Senate. One of them looks like he will win his party's nomination for the presidency this summer.
http://aycu24.webshots.com/image/43943/2002511874090944909_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2002511874090944909)
Graphic depicting total number of black members of Congress elected/appointed by state. Reconstruction era members are included in the totals for each state.
Revels resigned two months before his term expired and was appointed the first president of Alcorn Agricultural and Mechanical College (now Alcorn State University) located in Claiborne County, Mississippi, where he also taught philosophy.
http://aycu24.webshots.com/image/46223/2001805774859977450_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2001805774859977450)
Revels' senate term was an abbreviated because he was elected to complete the term vacated ten years earlier by Jefferson Davis, who left the Senate to become the president of the Confederacy. Hiram Revels died on January 16, 1901, while attending a church conference in Aberdeen, Mississippi.
http://aycu23.webshots.com/image/44062/2002590628676939128_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2002590628676939128)
Revels is buried in Hillcrest Cemetery, at Holly Springs MS
http://aycu38.webshots.com/image/46517/2002596634731855996_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2002596634731855996)