The Reconstruction of Congress

While most people are familiar with the stories of heroes like Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcom X, very few know the story of the first seven black Congressmen.

This Currier and Ives print depicts the first black members of Congress, Hiram Revels of Mississippi, Josiah Walls of Florida, Joseph H. Rainey, Robert Brown Elliot, and Robert De Large of South Carolina, Jefferson Long of Georgia and Benjamin Turner of Alabama. These men served alongside their white counterparts in Congress during a very difficult time in our nation’s history, Reconstruction.

Hiram Revels was our nation’s first black Senator. To this day, he is still one of only six black men to serve in this distinguished role. Revels was born free in 1827 in Fayetteville, NC. He was tutored as a child by a local black woman, although this was illegal in North Carolina at the time. He went on to attend college and seminary school becoming a minster for the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Revels traveled to several parts of the country while in ministry and took a pastorate in St. Louis, MO, where in 1854, he was arrested “for preaching to Negroes.”1 Shortly after his release from prison he moved to Maryland.

When the Civil War broke out, Revels helped recruit two black regiments in Maryland and served as chaplain for the troops. After the war, he relocated his family to Nachez, MS where he served as alderman. Revels went on to have a career in the Mississippi State Senate and was selected to serve as a U.S. Senator.

Southern Democrats were vocal in opposition to his appointment, arguing that he did not meet the requirement of being a citizen nine years prior to serving. His opponents also cited the Dred Scott case which argued that blacks—born slave or free—could not become U.S. citizens. Despite this challenge, Revels was sworn into office on Feb. 25, 1870, becoming the first black man ever to serve in either house of the United States Congress.

Josiah Walls, representative from Florida, was born into slavery in 1842. When the Civil War began, he was forced into service for the Confederacy and was eventually captured by Union soldiers who freed him. He soon joined the Union army, and after being discharged in 1865, he worked at a sawmill and then as a teacher. Eventually, he saved enough to buy a large farm on which to raise his family.

Walls served in the state House and was selected by the GOP as a candidate for the U.S. Congress. Although his Democratic opponent claimed that the former slave wasn’t “educated enough” 1 to serve as a representative, Walls stood strong, confident in his intellect and ability to serve.

During a campaign stop in Gainesville, FLA, Walls barely missed being shot by a bullet. He won the election, but it was contested, and he was unseated after serving nearly two years.

During his time in Congress, Walls was a proponent for publicly funded education. He worried that education, if left to the States, would fail to adequately educate former slaves. Walls went on to run for re-election, and again he was forced out—this time being falsely accused of voter tampering. Despite pleading his own defense, the Committee on Elections voted against Walls 8-3. Walls left Congress in 1876, and not a single black Congressperson would hold a seat in Florida until the early 1990s.

In 1832, Joseph H. Rainey was born into slavery in South Carolina. His father, Edward Rainey, was a barber by trade and eventually saved enough to buy his family’s freedom. Joseph was forced to serve in the Confederate army when the Civil War began in 1861.

Eventually, Rainey began working aboard a Confederate vessel where he and his wife Susan literally jumped ship and escaped to Bermuda. In 1867, the Raineys moved back to Georgetown, SC, where Joseph began his involvement in the Republican Party.

Rainey was the first black man elected to the U.S. House of Representatives and was popular with both black and white voters. He served Congressional terms from 1870 until 1879.

Rainey is best known for his work on the Committee on Freedmen’s Affairs. This committee was created in 1865 to oversee legislation related to the newly freed slaves. Rainey was outspoken regarding violence perpetrated by the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) and said, “When myself and my colleagues shall leave these Halls and turn our footsteps toward our southern homes, we know not that the assassin await our coming.”2

The Ku Klux Klan Act was signed into law in 1871 by President Ulysses S. Grant but was ignored by those loyal to the Klan. Rainey remained a staunch supporter of Civil Rights and favored desegregation in all facets of life.

Robert Brown Elliot was born in England in 1842 and came to America by serving in the British Navy.

Settling in Boston around 1867, Elliot became an associate editor for a freedmen’s paper called the South Carolina Leader. He was well-educated, spoke several languages, and his charisma and natural oratory talents frequently wowed audiences.

Elliot served in the state House of Representatives and during his time there passed the bar exam. In 1870, he was appointed by the governor to serve as the Assistant Adjunct General of South Carolina, a position which granted him the authority to raise the state militia to protect citizens from the KKK.

Elliot was elected to Congress easily but caused a bit of an uproar when he was seated. His very dark skin caused him to contrast with two “mulatto” Representatives, Joseph Rainey and Jefferson Long. Elliot won a second term in Congress, had a successful career fighting injustice of the Klan, and supported measures like Senator Charles Sumner’s Civil Rights Bill.  

Robert De Large of South Carolina was born in 1842. Although some records suggest he may have been a slave, it was more likely that he was born to free parents. He had opportunities to attend school and worked as both a tailor and a farmer.

De Large amassed a small fortune after gaining employment with the Confederate Navy, a fortune which he later donated mostly to the Republican Party.

De Large worked for the Freedom’s Bureau after the end of the war. He went on to serve in the state House and was elected to the U.S. Congress in 1871.

While supporting a bill of “amnesty” for former Confederates, he vehemently opposed intimidation of both black and white southerners from the KKK. De Large felt it was the duty of the national government to intervene to help “secure people’s lives, liberty, and property.”3 Much of his career was engulfed in drama, partially due to scandals of some of his political associations and later due to his failing health. He left Congress in 1873 and died of tuberculosis as the age of 31.

Born into slavery in 1836, Jefferson Long learned to read and write after being freed by the Emancipation Proclamation and became a successful businessman. Long worked hard to promote literacy among blacks and became active in the Republican Party, urging blacks to register to vote and participate in politics.

Long was active in the Georgia Labor Convention, helping to organize black agricultural workers into demanding better working conditions, jobs and wages.

Long was elected to the U.S. Congress for a short time in 1871, and he became the first black Representative to speak before the House. He opposed a bill that allowed former Confederates to serve in Congress without swearing an oath to the Constitution, but despite his opposition, the bill passed. He left politics shortly afterwards and returned to his business.

Benjamin Turner of Alabama was born into slavery in North Carolina in 1825. He relocated to Alabama with his owner and received a good, albeit secret, education. At the age of 20, he was sold again and helped his new owner run a livery, where he was allowed to keep some of the profit.

Turner married, but his wife was purchased by a white man to be a mistress. He never married again.

Turner had saved enough to purchase land in Selma, AL but lost nearly everything when Union troops burned two-thirds of the town.

After the war, he quickly returned to his business pursuits through farming and working as a merchant. Turner did well for himself and wanted to help others, so in 1865, he formed a school for freemen in his hometown

Turner sought a U.S. Congressional seat in Alabama and won with 58 percent of the vote. During his time in the House, he fought to secure $20,000 in funding to re-build Selma, but the bill failed. Turner also fought to repeal a tax on cotton that he argued devastated all poor people of the South regardless of color.

While Turner supported granting amnesty to Confederates, he also worked for more controversial causes such as paying reparations to former slaves. Turner served in the House from 1871-1873.  

While all seven of these men varied in background and in personality, they were united in one cause: that all men are created equal.

Working alongside their white contemporaries, they labored to tear down racial barriers. These brave men are to be admired for the commitment and courage they displayed despite being met at times with very fierce opposition to their causes.

1. Philip Dray, Capitol Men: The Epic Story of Reconstruction Through the Lives of the First Black Congressmen (New York:  Houghton Mifflin Company, 2008) p. 60

2. Office of History and Preservation, Office of the Clerk, Black Americans in Congress, 1870–2007. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 2008. (February 24, 2012).

3. Office of History and Preservation, Office of the Clerk, Black Americans in Congress, 1870–2007. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 2008. (February 24, 2012).

For more information, check out the Black Americans in Congress website.