More than 1,500 African American officeholders served during the Reconstruction era (1865–1877) after passage of the Reconstruction Acts in 1867 and 1868 as well as in the years after Reconstruction before white supremacy, disenfranchisement, and the Democratic Party fully reasserted control in Southern states. Historian Canter Brown, Jr. noted that in some states, such as Florida, the highest number of African Americans were elected or appointed to offices after 1877 and the end of Reconstruction. The following is a partial list some of the most notable of the officeholders pre–1900.
Jeremiah Haralson, was a politician from Alabama who served as a state legislator and was among the first ten African-American United States Congressmen. Born into slavery in Columbus, Georgia, Haralson became self-educated while enslaved in Selma, Alabama. He was a leader among freedmen after the American Civil War.
Alexander Kelso Davis was an American politician. He was a member of the Mississippi House of Representatives and Lieutenant Governor of Mississippi. He was impeached by the resurgent Democrats towards the end of the Reconstruction era in 1876. He was the first African American to serve as lieutenant governor in Mississippi.
Isham Stewart, sometimes written as Isom Stewart, was a state legislator in Mississippi. He served in the Mississippi House of Representatives during the Reconstruction era and also served in the Mississippi Senate. He was the target of attacks from newspapers critical of African American politicians as well as so-called scalawags and carpetbaggers. His son served as deputy sheriff and was prosecuted under a law intended to target Ku Klux Klan members. His son Robert served as postmaster in Macon, Mississippi.
Randle Nettles was a farmer, Baptist preacher, state legislator, and state militia member during the Reconstruction era in Mississippi. He served on the county Board of Supervisors from 1870 to 1872. He represented Oktibbeha County in the Mississippi House of Representatives from 1870 to 1873. He was appointed as an officer to the state militia.
Larry J. Williams was a registrar in 1866 and served in the Alabama House of Representatives during the Reconstruction era in Alabama. He was also three Mintgomery city council member for three terms from 1869 to 1874. He and Jeremiah Haralson were both African Americans who represented Montgomery County, Alabama. Williams pushed for civil rights legislation. He headed a special committee that was able to arrange for a conference of conservatives to proceed peacefully. He served in 1873 along with Noah B. Cloud representing Montgomery.
William H. Gray was a Baptist minister and state legislator in Mississippi. He served in the Mississippi Senate during the Reconstruction era.
Walter Boyd was a state legislator in Mississippi. He represented Yazoo County, Mississippi in the Mississippi House of Representatives in 1874 and 1875. J. G. Patterson was the other representative in the House from Yazoo County. In 1875, Julius Allen wrote about a meeting with Boyd in Yazoo City and the armed whites making threats against Republicans and potential African American voters.
William M. Robinson was a state legislator in Mississippi. He represented Hinds County, Mississippi in the Mississippi House of Representatives in 1884 and 1885.
Alfred Fields was a state legislator in Mississippi. He represented Panola County, Mississippi in the Mississippi House of Representatives in 1880.
J. W. McFarland was a state legislator in Mississippi. He represented Rankin County, Mississippi in the Mississippi House of Representatives in 1874 and 1875.
Harrison H. Truhart. was a blacksmith and state legislator in Mississippi serving as a representative from 1872 to 1875. In 1872 he was elected to the Mississippi House of Representatives to represent Holmes County, Mississippi along with Perry Howard and F. Stewart. In 1874, again with Perry Howard and Tenant Weatherly replacing Stewart, he represented Holmes County in the House.
J. Wesley Caradine was a farmer and state legislator in Mississippi. He served in the Mississippi House of Representatives in 1874 and 1875. He was the first state representative for Clay County, Mississippi after it was established in 1871.
Jones R. Parker was a state legislator in Mississippi. He represented Washington County, Mississippi in the Mississippi House of Representatives in 1884 and 1885. He served on the Committee on Public Health and Quarantine.
James M. Dickson, sometimes written as James M. Dixon, was a minister, farm owner, and state legislator in Mississippi. He was enslaved from birth. He represented Yazoo County in the Mississippi House of Representatives in 1872 and 1873. He also served as a chancery clerk and on the county school board.
Amos Drane was a delegate to Mississippi's 1868 Constitutional Convention representing Madison County, Alabama. He was one of 16 African American delegates at the constitutional convemtion.
Obediah Crew French was a state legislator in Mississippi. He was a Republican. He and other Republican legislators were ridiculed in the Natchez Democrat. Z. P. Landrum, a fellow legislator, called him a low-bred carpet bag cur. He served as Mississippi's commissioner for the U.S. Centennial.
William H. Mallory was a storekeeper, farmer, and state legislator in Mississippi. He served in the Mississippi House of Representatives from 1872 to 1873 and from 1876 to 1877 first for Warren County, Mississippi and then for LeFlore County and Sunflower County. Before serving as a state representative he was a policeman and alderman. In 1872 he was elected president of Vicksburg Fire Company #2.
Lawrence W. Overton was a state legislator in Mississippi. He was born in Kentucky. He represented Noxubee County in the Mississippi House of Representatives in 1876. Hampton L. Jarnagin and Marshall McNeese were his fellow representatives from Noxubee County. He married Izella Richmond with whom he had three children.
Freeman E. Franklin was a state legislator in Mississippi. He served as Speaker of the Mississippi House of Representatives in 1870.
