[1] Jefferson F. Long was born in Crawford County, Georgia, March 3,
1836. Some time thereafter he moved to Macon, Bibb County, where,
under the direction of his owner, he learned the tailor's trade. Prior
to his election to the third session of the Forty-first Congress, Mr.
Long conducted, in Macon, a thriving business as a merchant tailor.
His patronage, which consisted largely of that of whites, was much
decreased after his term in Congress, due no doubt to their resentment
of his activities in politics. Mr. Long was a good speaker, a
Christian gentleman, and a man of many fine qualities. Upon his death
in Macon, February 4, 1900, his loss was mourned alike by whites and
Negroes.--Chaplain T. G. Stewart, _Fifty Years in the Gospel
Ministry_, p. 129.
Letter from Mrs. A. L. Rucker, Atlanta, Ga., daughter of Mr. Long.
October, 1921.
[2] Robert C. DeLarge was born at Aiken, South Carolina, March 15,
1842. He received only a limited education and chose to pursue the
occupation of farming. He entered politics in 1868, held several
local and State offices, was elected to the Forty-second
Congress, and on February 15, 1874, became a trial justice at
Charleston.--_Biographical Congressional Directory_, p. 497.
[3] Joseph H. Rainey was born of slave parents at Georgetown, S. C.,
June 21, 1832. He received a limited education. After following the
trade of a barber, he was compelled, in 1862, to work on Confederate
fortifications. From this work he escaped, going to the West Indies,
where he remained till the end of the war. Upon his return to the
United States, he entered politics. He served in the 42nd, 43rd, 44th,
and 45th Congresses, and died at Georgetown, S. C., August 1,
1887.--_Biographical Congressional Directory_, p. 757.
[4] Alonzo J. Ransier was born at Charleston, South Carolina, January
3, 1836. He received a limited education, entered politics, and held
various offices. In 1868, he was a presidential elector, casting a
vote for Grant and Colfax, while four years later he was a delegate to
the Republican National Convention. He served as a member of
the 42nd Congress and died at Charleston, S. C., August 17,
1882.--_Biographical Congressional Directory_, p. 759.
[5] Robert Smalls was born a slave at Beaufort, South Carolina, April
5, 1839. Debarred by statute from attending school, he availed himself
of such limited educational advantages as he could secure. In 1851, he
moved to Charleston, worked as a rigger, and thereafter led a
seafaring life. In 1861, he became connected with the _Planter_, a
steamer plying in the Charleston Harbor as a transport, which he took
over the Charleston bar in 1862 and delivered with his services to the
commander of the United States blockading squadron. He was appointed a
pilot in the Quartermaster's Department of the United States Navy, and
remained in the service till 1866, and meanwhile rose to the rank of
Captain. In 1868 he entered politics and was later elected to the
44th, 45th, 47th, 48th, and 49th Congresses. In the State militia
of South Carolina, he held successively the commands of
lieutenant-colonel, brigadier-general, and major-general, the latter
terminating with the reorganization of the militia in 1877. Mr. Smalls
was a delegate to several National Republican Conventions. His
last public office was that of collector of the port of
Beaufort.--_Biographical Congressional Directory_, p. 803.
[6] John R. Lynch of Natchez, Mississippi, was born in Concordia
Parish, Louisiana, September 10, 1847. He attended evening school at
Natchez for a few months, and by private study acquired a good English
education. He engaged in the business of photography at Natchez until
1869, when Governor Ames appointed him a justice of the peace. Mr.
Lynch served in the 43rd, 44th, and 47th Congresses, and was elected
to the 45th Congress, but was counted out. Later he served as Fourth
Auditor of Treasury Department under President Harrison, and as a
paymaster in the Volunteer Army during the Spanish-American
War.--_Biographical Congressional Directory_, p. 662.
[7] Blanche K. Bruce of Floreyville, Mississippi, was born in Prince
Edward County, Virginia, March 1, 1841. A man of limited education, he
became, in 1869, a planter in Mississippi. Later he became a member of
the Mississippi levee board, served in several local offices, and
finally was elected, in 1875, to the United States Senate where he
served till 1881. Mr. Bruce died at Washington, D. C., March 17,
1898.--_Biographical Congressional Directory_, p. 420.
[8] Jore Haralson was born a slave in Muscogee County, Georgia, April
1, 1846. He was emancipated in 1865, after which he acquired through
self-instruction a fair education. After moving to Alabama, he entered
into the politics of that State. Mr. Haralson was elected to the 44th
Congress, but failed of re-election to the 45th.--_Biographical
Congressional Directory_, p. 557.
[9] Benjamin Sterling Turner was born a slave at Halifax, North
Carolina, March 17, 1825. In 1830, he moved to Alabama, where by
clandestine study he obtained a fair education. He became a prosperous
merchant, was elected to several local offices, and to the 42nd
Congress. He was defeated for the 43rd.--_Biographical Congressional
Directory_, p. 849.
[10] John Adams Hyman was born a slave in Warren, North Carolina, July
23, 1840. He was sold and sent to Alabama, where he was emancipated in
1865. Returning to North Carolina, Mr. Hyman engaged in farming and
acquired a rudimentary education. Entering politics in 1868, he was
later elected to the 44th Congress. In June, 1877, he was appointed
collector of internal revenue for the 2nd district of North
Carolina.--_Biographical Congressional Directory_, p. 614.
[11] Charles E. Nash was a native of Opelousas, Louisiana. He was
educated at New Orleans, later following the trade of bricklayer. In
1863, Mr. Nash served as a private in the Eighty-third Regiment United
States Chasseurs d'Afrique. He was later promoted to sergeant-major
and lost a leg in the storming of Fort Blakeley. He was elected to the
44th Congress, but defeated for the 45th.--_Biographical Congressional
Directory_, p. 713.
[12] Josiah T. Walls was born at Winchester, Virginia, December 30,
1842. He received a limited education, became a farmer, and in 1868
entered politics. Mr. Walls received a certificate of election as a
representative from Florida to the 42nd Congress, but his seat was
successfully contested by Silas Niblack. He was admitted, however, to
the 43rd and 44th Congresses.--_Biographical Congressional Directory_,
p. 864.
[13] Richard H. Cain was born in Greenbrier County, Virginia, April
12, 1825. In 1831, he moved with his father to Gallipolis, Ohio. Of
limited education prior to his marriage, and having entered the
ministry at an early age, he found it to his advantage, at the age of
35 years, to undertake formal study at a recognized school of
learning. Following a career as clergyman, missionary, and politician,
he was elected to the 43rd Congress and re-elected to the 45th. After
his retirement from Congress, Mr. Cain, was elected the fourteenth
bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. He died in
Washington, January 18, 1887. --_Biographical Congressional
Directory_, p. 434.
[14] Hiram B. Revels was born at Fayetteville, North Carolina,
September 1, 1822. Being unable to obtain an education in his own
State, he moved to Indiana and there began study for the ministry. At
the outbreak of the Civil War, Mr. Revels assisted in the organization
of the first two Negro regiments in Maryland. Having made a record for
service among his people in the central States, he went to Mississippi
and there became interested in managing the freedmen's affairs. He was
elected to several local offices and in 1870 was elected to fill an
unexpired term in the United States Senate. After his retirement from
Congress, Mr. Revels served as president of Alcorn University at
Rodney, Mississippi, and later as pastor of the African Methodist
Episcopal Church at Richmond, Indiana. He died January 16, 1901, at
Abeerden, Mississippi.--_Biographical Congressional Directory_, p.
763.
[15] Henry Plummer Cheatham of Henderson, North Carolina, was born at
Granville, North Carolina, December 27, 1857. After acquiring a good
education, he entered the teaching profession. Later he became
interested in politics and was elected to the 51st and 52nd
Congresses. His last public office was that of Recorder of Deeds of
the District of Columbia.--_Biographical Congressional Directory_, p.
450.
[16] George Washington Murray was born of slave parents, September 22,
1853, near Rembert, Sumter County, South Carolina. At the age of
eleven years, he found himself free, bereft of parents, completely
dependent upon his own resources. His early life, therefore, was one
of great trials and sacrifices. Possessed, however, of a determination
to live and learn, young Murray availed himself of every opportunity
to improve his meagre stock of knowledge. So well did he succeed that
his first day in school was spent as teacher rather than student. In
later life, he acquired a good education, entered into the service of
the public schools of his county and was finally elected to the 53rd
Congress. Mr. Murray was elected also to the 54th, but secured his
seat only after a successful contest with a leading Democrat of his
State.--_Biographical Congressional Directory_, pp. 711-712.
[17] John Mercer Langston was born in Louisa County, Virginia,
December 14, 1829. He distinguished himself as an educator and won
many honors in his field. Mr. Langston served also in many civic and
political offices prior to his election to the 51st Congress. Due to
the contest he was forced to make for his seat, Mr. Langston served
actually a very short time in Congress. He died in Washington, D. C.,
November 15, 1897.--_Biographical Congressional Directory_, p. 643.
[18] Robert Brown Elliott was born in Boston, Massachusetts, August
11, 1842. He was educated in England, and upon his return to the
United States entered into the politics of the State of South
Carolina. Mr. Elliott was elected to the 42nd Congress and resigned
before the term had expired; he was re-elected to the 43rd
Congress and again resigned, this time to accept the office of
sheriff.--_Biographical Congressional Directory_, p. 517.
[19] James T. Rapier was born at Florence, Alabama, in 1840. He was
sent to Canada to be educated, and while there was given the
opportunity to recite before the late King Edward VII, then Prince of
Wales, who was at that time visiting the United States and Canada.
Prior to his election to Congress, Mr. Rapier held several local
offices in Alabama and also aspired to become Secretary-of-State. In
this contest he was defeated by one Nicholas Davis, a white man. Mr.
Rapier was a partisan in the split in the Republican Party in his
State, aligning himself with one Spencer, a Republican leader of that
date. Losing in this contest, he lost also his ability to win votes
and so was defeated in his attempt to seek re-election to the 44th
Congress. Soon thereafter, Mr. Rapier gave his attention to farming
and was highly successful as a cotton planter.--_Biographical
Congressional Directory_, p. 760, and a statement of Thomas Walker, a
local officer in Alabama during the reconstruction period.
[20] James E. O'Hara of Enfield, North Carolina, was born in New York
City, February 26, 1844. He acquired a liberal education, read law,
and entered into the politics of the State of North Carolina. After
holding several local offices, he was elected to the 46th, 48th, and
49th Congresses, but was counted out in the former.--_Biographical
Congressional Directory_, p. 722.
[21] Thomas E. Miller was born in Beaufort County, South Carolina, at
Ferrybeeville, June 17, 1849. After acquiring a good education, he
entered politics. Mr. Miller held many local and State offices,
and was nominated by his party, in 1878, for the office of
Lieutenant-Governor of the State. Due, however, to riotous actions of
the Democratic party throughout the elections that year, the ticket
was withdrawn. Mr. Miller was seated in the 51st Congress after a
contested election with Col. William Elliott. In 1896, he was elected
president of the State Colored College at Orangeburg, South
Carolina.--_Biographical Congressional Directory_, p. 695.
[22] George Henry White of Tarboro, North Carolina, was born at
Rosindale, North Carolina, December 18, 1852. He acquired a good
education, practiced law, and entered politics. After serving in
several local and State offices, Mr. White was elected to the 55th and
re-elected to the 56th Congress.--_Biographical Congressional
Directory_, p. 877.
[23] _Biographical Congressional Directory_, p. 643.
[24] _Ibid._, p. 614.
[25] _Ibid._, p. 722.
[26] _Ibid._, p. 450.
[27] _Ibid._, p. 877.
[28] _Biographical Congressional Directory_, p. 434.
[29] _Ibid._, p. 497.
[30] _Ibid._, p. 517.
[31] _Ibid._, p. 757.
[32] _Ibid._, p. 759.
[33] _Ibid._, p. 803.
[34] _Ibid._, p. 695.
[35] _Ibid._, pp. 711-712.
[36] Letter from Mrs. A. L. Rucker, Atlanta, Ga., daughter of J. F.
Long, Oct., 1921.
[37] Statement of Thomas Walker, Washington, D. C., a local officer in
Alabama, during the Reconstruction Period.
[38] Statement made by Thomas Walker.
[39] _Biographical Congressional Directory_, p. 577.
[40] _Ibid._, p. 763.
[41] _Ibid._, p. 420.
[42] _Ibid._, p. 662.
[43] _Ibid._, p. 713.
[44] C. G. Woodson, _Fifty Years of Negro Citizenship_, JOURNAL OF
NEGRO HISTORY, Vol. VI, p. 11.
[45] _Congressional Globe_, 41st Congress, 3rd Session, p. 881.
[46] "In regard to the State of Mississippi," continued Senator
Revels, "I have this to say: The Republican Party now dominating there
pledged itself to universal amnesty. That was in their platform; these
speakers pledged themselves to it and the legislature redeemed that
pledge, unanimously adopting a resolution asking Congress to remove
the political disabilities of all the citizens of Mississippi, which
resolution they placed in my hands, and made it my duty to present
here, and which I have presented.
"Now I can say more, I believe, for the State of Mississippi, than I
can say for any other of the lately insurrectionary States. I do not
know of one State that is altogether as well reconstructed as
Mississippi is. We have reports of a great many other States of
lawlessness and violence, and from parts of States we have
well-authenticated reports of this effect; but while this is the case,
do you hear one report of any more lawlessness in evidence in the
State of Mississippi? No! The people now I believe are getting along
as quietly, pleasantly, harmoniously, prosperously as the people are
in any of the formerly free States. I think this is the case, I do not
think my statement exaggerates anything at all. Now, sir, I hope that
I am understood. I am in favor of amnesty in Mississippi. We pledged
ourselves to it. The State is for it."--_Congressional Globe_, 41st
Congress, 2nd Session, p. 3520.
[47] _Ibid._, 42nd Congress, 1st Session, p. 393.
[48] _Congressional Globe_, 42nd Congress, 2nd Session, p. 103.
[49] _Ibid._, 42nd Congress, 1st Session, pp. 102-103.
[50] _Ibid._, 102-103.
[51] _Congressional Globe_, 41st Congress, 2nd Session, p. 1287.
[52] _Congressional Record_, 43rd Congress, 1st Session, pp. 407-410.
[53] _Congressional Record_, 43rd Congress, 1st Session, pp. 407-410.
[54] _Congressional Globe_, 42nd Congress, 2nd Session, p. 3383.
[55] _Congressional Record_, 43rd Congress, 1st Session, pp.
1311-1314.
[56] _Ibid._, p. 407.
[57] _Congressional Record_, pp. 4782-4786.
[58] _Ibid._, pp. 565-567.
[59] _Ibid._, p. 64.
[60] _Ibid._, p. 64.
[61] _Congressional Record_, 48th Congress, 2nd Session, p. 297.
[62] _Ibid._, 51st Congress, 2nd Session, p. 1216.
[63] _Congressional Record_, 56th Congress, 2nd Session, p. 1634.
[64] _Congressional Globe_, 42nd Congress, 2nd Session, p. 813; App.,
p. 15.
[65] _Congressional Globe_, pp. 808-810.
[66] _Ibid._, 42nd Congress, 1st Session, p. 3655; 3rd Session, p.
220. _Congressional Record_, 43rd Congress, 1st Session, pp. 87, 88.
[67] _Congressional Record_, 45th Congress, 2nd Session, p. 1646; 44th
Congress, 1st Session, pp. 2714, 3602.
[68] At a later date, Langston, in the Fifty-first Congress,
introduced a measure for the establishment of normal and industrial
schools for Negroes. These numerous measures were referred invariably
to the Committee on Education and Labor, from which they were usually
reported adversely to the House.--_Congressional Record_, 51st
Congress, 2nd Session, p. 1650.
[69] In placing the responsibility with both parties, DeLarge said:
"Mr. Speaker, when the governor of my State the other day called in
council the leading men of the State, to consider the condition of
affairs there and to advise what measures would be best for the
protection of the people, whom did he call together? The major portion
of the men whom he convened were men resting under political
disabilities imposed by the Fourteenth Amendment. In good faith, I ask
the gentlemen on this side of the House, and gentlemen on the other
side of the House, whether it is reasonable to expect that those men
should be interested, in any shape or form, in using their influence
and best endeavor for the preservation of the public peace when they
have nothing to look for politically in the future? You say that they
should have the moral and material interest of their State at heart,
though even always denied a participation in its honors. You may
insist that the true patriot seeks no personal ends in acts of
patriotism. All this is true, but, Mr. Speaker, men are but men
everywhere, and you ought not to expect of those whom you daily call
by opprobrious epithets, whom you daily remind of their political
sins, whom you persistently exclude from places of the smallest trust
in the government you have created, to be very earnest to cooperate
with you in the work of establishing and fortifying the government set
up in hostility to the whole tone of their prejudices, their
connections, and their sympathies. What ought to be is one thing; what
in the weakness and fallibility of human nature will be is quite
another thing. The statesman regards the actual and acts upon it; the
desirable, the possible, and even the probable furnishes but poor
basis for political action."--_Congressional Globe_, 42nd Congress,
1st Session, App., pp. 230-231.
[70] _Ibid._, 42nd Congress, 1st Session, p. 376.
[71] _Congressional Globe_, 42nd Congress, 3rd Session, p. 4039.
[72] _Congressional Globe_, 42nd Congress, 3rd Session, App., p. 475.
[73] _Congressional Record_, 43rd Congress, 1st Session, p. 1121; 44th
Congress, 1st Session, p. 206; 47th Congress, 1st Session, p. 3946.
[74] _Ibid._, 44th Congress, 1st Session, pp. 3825-3826; 3781-3784;
5540-5543.
[75] _Congressional Record_, pp. 3667, 3668, 3669.
[76] _Ibid._, 44th Congress, 2nd Session, App., pp. 123-136.
[77] _Ibid._, 44th Congress, 1st Session, pp. 2100-2105.
[78] Miller pointed out the inherent weaknesses of the South, the
insecurity of investment, violation of the right of property and of
contract, the jeopardy of life, and over-assessment of taxes on
property held by Northern Whites--as constituting the causes
underlying the failure of investors to direct their monies to Southern
enterprises. He discussed the amenability of the Negro to civilizing
influences and the economic progress that the race had made since its
emancipation from slavery. Miller asserted, moreover, that though
these remarks might effect the loss of his seat in the next Congress,
he conceived it his duty to his party and to his race to defend his
people against the dastardly attack of one who pretended to be its
friend. _Congressional Record_, 51st Congress, 2nd Session, p. 2691.
[79] _Ibid._, pp. 1479-1482; 1524.
[80] _Ibid._, 53rd Congress, 1st Session, pp. 2158-2161.
[81] _Ibid._, 54th Congress, 1st Session, p. 1868; 2nd Session, p.
320.
[82] _Congressional Globe_, 42nd Congress, 2nd Session, pp. 393, 2439,
2447, 2452.
[83] _Ibid._, 42nd Congress, 1st Session, pp. 198, 178, 3793; 3rd
Session, p. 220; 43rd Congress, 1st Session, pp. 87, 88.
[84] _Ibid._, 43rd Congress, 1st Session, pp. 85, 320, 1333.
[85] _Congressional Globe_, 44th Congress, 1st Session, pp. 321, 1203;
47th Congress, 1st Session, pp. 4551, 6146.
[86] _Ibid._, 44th Congress, 1st Session, pp. 442, 3754, 4857; 45th
Congress, 2nd Session, p. 2706; 47th Congress, 1st Session, p. 6432;
49th Congress, 1st Session, p. 1218.
[87] _Ibid._, 49th Congress, 1st Session, pp. 437, 1404, 3748, 4980,
4982, 5069.
[88] _Congressional Globe_, 42nd Congress, 1st Session, p. 3570.
[89] _Congressional Record_, 47th Congress, 2nd Session, pp. 2312,
2660, 2870-2871.
[90] _Congressional Record_, 55th Congress, 1st Session, p. 550.
[91] _Ibid._, 49th Congress, 1st Session, p. 3049.
[92] _Congressional Record_, 51st Congress, 2nd Session, p. 3490.
[93] _Ibid._, 52nd Congress, 1st Session, App., p. 508.
[94] _Congressional Record_, 51st Congress, 1st Session, pp. 10,707,
10,708.
[95] _Ibid._, 52nd Congress, 2nd Session, pp. 4695, 5974.
[96] _Ibid._, 53rd Congress, 2nd Session, p. 8382.
[97] _Congressional Record_, 56th Congress, 1st Session, pp. 166, 372,
594, 791; 2nd Session, p. 188; 55th Congress, 2nd Session, p. 3153.
[98] _Ibid._, 43rd Congress, 1st Session, App., p. 250; pp. 27, 206.
_Congressional Globe_, 42nd Congress, 1st Session, pp. 198, 178.
[99] _Congressional Record_, 44th Congress, 1st Session, p. 3340.
[100] _Ibid._, 44th Congress, 1st Session, pp. 771, 2714, 2791.
[101] _Congressional Record_, 44th Congress, 2nd Session, pp.
1025-1026.
[102] _Congressional Record_, 44th Congress, 1st Session, pp. 118,
119.
[103] _Ibid._, 47th Congress, 1st Session, p. 6898.
[104] _Ibid._, 45th Congress, 2nd Session, p. 1646.
[105] _Ibid._, 44th Congress, 1st Session, pp. 3457, 3467, 3468; 48th
Congress, 2nd Session, pp. 316, 2057; 49th Congress, 1st Session, p.
1919.
[106] _Ibid._, 45th Congress, 3rd Session, p. 1914.
[107] _Ibid._, 46th Congress, 2nd Session, pp. 2195-2196.
[108] _Congressional Record_, 44th Congress, 1st Session, pp. 1444,
1445.
[109] _Congressional Record_, 45th Congress, 1st Session, pp. 245,
1750; 3rd Session, 1314, 1316, 2309.
[110] _Ibid._, 53rd Congress, 2nd Session, p. 2399; 1st Session, pp.
1392, 1396.
[111] _Ibid._, 56th Congress, 2nd Session, p. 3814.
[112] _Ibid._, 55th Congress, 2nd Session, p. 541.
[113] Munro, _The Government of the United States_, p. 297.
[114] A Letter from John E. Bruce, Brooklyn, N. N., a man active
during the Reconstruction. June 6, 1921.
[115] James G. Blaine, _Twenty Years of Congress_, 1861-1881, Vol. II,
p. 515.