Regarding the Negro Congressmen in the light of the standards already
referred to, we shall first make inquiry as to their mental fitness to
function as law makers. Broadly considered, they may be divided into
two groups: first, those who possessed but limited education; second,
those who were college bred.
Among the men comprising the first group, certain common
characteristics are noticeable: first, they were mainly members of the
earliest Reconstruction Congresses, beginning with the Forty-first, in
which Negroes held membership, and were therefore but little removed
from slavery; second, some of them were born of slave parents or had
been, themselves, slaves; third, others were brought up in communities
which expressly prohibited the establishment of educational
institutions for Negroes; and fourth, all of them, by dint of severe
application in later years, secured, prior to their election to
Congress, a better education than rudimentary instruction. The members
of this group were twelve in number, including Long[1] of Georgia; De
Large,[2] Rainey,[3] Ransier,[4] and Smalls[5] of South Carolina;
Lynch[6] and Bruce[7] of Mississippi; Haralson[8] and Turner[9] of
Alabama; Hyman[10] of North Carolina; Nash[11] of Louisiana; and
Walls[12] of Florida.
As many as ten of the twenty-two Negro congressmen were men of college
education. This training, however, varied widely in scope and purpose.
Two men of this group became ministers of the gospel. One of them,
Richard H. Cain[13] of South Carolina, was trained at Wilberforce
University, Xenia, Ohio, whence he left in 1861, at the age of
thirty-six years, to begin a career in his chosen field; the other,
Hiram E. Revels[14] of Mississippi, was educated at the Quaker
Seminary in Union County, Indiana. Prior to their election to
Congress, both of these men attracted wide attention as churchmen.
Cain was for four years the pastor of a church in Brooklyn, N. Y.,
after which his congregation sent him as a missionary to the freedmen
of South Carolina. Senator Revels, on the other hand, was widely known
as a lecturer in the States of Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, and Missouri.
For some time he preached in Baltimore, taught school in St. Louis,
and among other things, organized churches and lectured in
Mississippi. The wide experiences of both gentlemen offered to them
unusual opportunities to develop the power, keenness of insight, and
knowledge of human nature so essential to the leadership of men.
To some of these future Congressmen, the profession of teaching seemed
more attractive than the ministry. Three of the number were destined
to become educators. One of them, Henry P. Cheatham[15] of North
Carolina, attended the public and private schools near the town of
Henderson, and was later graduated with honor from the college
department of Shaw University. Immediately thereafter, in 1882, he was
elected to the principalship of the Plymouth State Normal School,
where he served until 1895. The second member of this group, George W.
Murray[16] of South Carolina, won by competitive examination a
scholarship at the reconstructed University of South Carolina. There
he remained until 1876, his junior year, when by the accession to
power of an administration unfriendly to the coeducation of the races,
he was forced to withdraw. For many years thereafter, Murray was
engaged as a teacher in the schools of his native county.
John Mercer Langston[17] of Virginia, the third member of the group of
educators, was graduated, in 1849, at the age of twenty, from Oberlin
College. Four years later, in 1853, he completed the work of the
theological department of that school. Because of his ripe
scholarship, moreover, unusual honors were conferred upon him by
several American colleges and universities, and he was the recipient
of several honorary memberships in scientific and literary
institutions and associations of foreign countries. Indeed, there have
sat in Congress few men of greater mental power and energy than John
Mercer Langston.
Of the twenty-two Negroes who have sat in Congress, five were members
of the legal profession. One of these men represented Alabama, two
South Carolina, and two North Carolina. Robert Brown Elliott, the
first member of this group of legally trained leaders, was perhaps the
most outstanding and certainly the most brilliant of the Negroes who
have served in Congress. Elliott[18] entered the High Hollow Academy
of London, England, in 1853, at the age of eleven years. In 1859, he
was graduated from Eton College. Later, he studied law and was
admitted to the bar, where he practiced for some time before the
courts of South Carolina. This superior training of Elliott no doubt
contributed in large measure to his eminence in debate, which was so
often manifested during the memorable sessions of the 42nd and 43rd
Congresses.
James T. Rapier[19] of Alabama, one of the really brilliant men in
this group, acquired a liberal education, after which he studied law
and practiced in his native State. Another member of the legal group
was James E. O'Hara[20] of Enfield, North Carolina. Following his
academic training which was received in New York City, O'Hara studied
law, first, in North Carolina, and later at Howard University in
Washington. In June, 1871, he was admitted to the bar of his State.
Two others of this group were Miller and White. The first one, Thomas
E. Miller,[21] of Beaufort, South Carolina, attended the free public
school for Negroes in his native city. In 1872 he was graduated from
the Lincoln University in Pennsylvania. Later, Miller read law, and in
1875 was admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of his State.
The second of these two, George Henry White[22] of North Carolina,
studied first in his native State and later at Howard University.
While there he pursued concurrently courses in liberal arts and in
law. In January, 1879, he was admitted to practice before the Supreme
Court of his State.