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Josiah Thomas Walls was a United States congressman who served three terms in the U.S. Congress between 1871 and 1876. He was one of the first African Americans in the United States Congress elected during the Reconstruction Era, and the first black person to be elected to Congress from Florida. He also served four terms in the Florida Senate.
Scholars have identified more than 1,500 African American officeholders who 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.
Charles H. Pearce (1817–1887) was a religious and political leader in Florida. An African Methodist Episcopal (AME) minister, he was dispatched to Florida in 1865, after the American Civil War. He had previously been a missionary in Canada after moving from Maryland to Connecticut. He helped bring the AME Church, the first independent black denomination in the United States, to Florida and worked to build its congregation during and after the Reconstruction era. In 1868 Pearce was elected as a delegate to the Florida Constitutional Convention of 1868. Later that year he was elected to the state legislature as a state senator from Leon County, Florida. He served numerous terms in the legislature, working to gain support for civil rights and public education for Floridians.
The "Original 33" were the first 33 African-American members of the Georgia General Assembly. They were elected to office in 1868, during the Reconstruction era. They were among the first African-American state legislators in the United States. Twenty-four of the members were ministers.
Joseph Newman Clinton was a politician and public official in Florida. An African American, he served in the Florida House of Representatives from Alachua County from 1881 to 1883, was a member of the city council in Gainesville from 1883 to 1885, and was a federal official in Pensacola and Tampa.
Alfred Brown Osgood was an American legislator and Christian minister in Florida.
Frederick Hill was a politician in Florida during the Reconstruction era. He was a delegate to the 1868 Florida Constitutional Convention and represented Gadsden County in the Florida Legislature. He also served as a Gadsen County Commissioner and was the postmaster in Quincy, Florida for several years.
William U. Saunders represented Gadsden County, Florida, in the Florida Legislature during the Reconstruction era.
William Ryal Long was a politician and public official in Florida during the Reconstruction era. He served in the Florida House of Representatives in 1873, 1874 and 1877. He lived in Monticello, Florida and represented Jefferson County, Florida. He was a Democrat.
Benjamin F. Livingston was a politician, grocer, and brick mason in the United States. An African American, he was born into slavery. After emancipation, he was appointed a County Commissioner for Jackson County, Florida, serving from 1868 until 1870. He served from 1871 until 1875 in the Florida House of Representatives representing Jackson County, Florida during the Reconstruction era. While there he voted for a civil rights bill in 1873.
Joseph E. Oates was a carpenter and politician in Florida, United States.
Edward I. Alexander Sr. (1850-1911) was a grocer, state legislator, city councilman, and postmaster in Florida. He represented Madison County, Florida in the Florida House of Representatives in 1877, 1879, and 1885. He sought to represent Madison County, Florida in the Florida House of Representatives in 1885.
Josiah Haynes Armstrong was a Bishop in the African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Church and a state legislator in Florida. He served several terms in the Florida House of Representatives during the Reconstruction era. The Florida Archives have a photograph of him. According to his Findagrave entry and the photos of hia gravestone posted to it he served in a "Colored" unit during the American Civil War.
Birch Gibson was a state legislator and local official in Ocala, Florida. He was one of several African Americans to represent Marion County, Florida in the Florida House of Representatives during the Reconstruction era. He was elected in 1873. He served as on the Ocala City Council, in the state House, and as a justice of the peace.
Samuel Small was a Baptist minister and state legislator who lived in Ocala, Florida. He was one of several African Americans who served in the Florida House of Representatives representing Marion County, Florida and Ocala during the Reconstruction era. The era was a hotbed of secessionist ferment before the American Civil War.
Noah Graham was an A.M.E. minister and state legislator in Florida. The Florida Archives have a copy of his 1867 voter registration. He is identified as "Colored". He represented Leon County, Florida in the Florida House of Representatives from 1868 to 1872. In 1868 he was also a Leon County Commissioner when Lieutenant Governor William Henry Gleason assumed the governor's office made various appointments and a dispute ensued. Graham resigned as commissioner when order was restored. A leader in the Republican Party, he tried to mediate an 1870 state senate election campaign dispute between Republican Party rivals James Page's Baptist and conservative supporters and Charles H. Pearce's A.M.E. and Radical Republican faction. Pearce prevailed.
Samuel W. Frazier was a farmer, justice of the peace and state legislator in Florida. He was elected to several terms in the Florida House of Representatives from Leon County.
Amos Hargrett was a farmer, county commissioner, justice of the peace, and delegate to Florida's 1885 Constitutional Convention. He was one of seven delegates who were African American. Former Florida state senator James Hargrett is his great-grandson.
Mark S. White was a teacher and politician in Florida. He lived in Pensacola and represented Escambia County, Florida in the Florida House of Representatives in 1883. He belonged to the Knights of Labor. He was described as "mulatto".
Robert H. Dennis Sr. was a teacher and state legislator in Florida. In 1875 he represented Jackson County, Florida in the Florida House of Representatives.
References
- ↑ Florida's Black Public Officials by Canter Brown Jr. page 75
- ↑ Davis, William Watson (February 15, 1913). The Civil War and Reconstruction in Florida. Columbia Univ. ISBN 9780722201985 – via Google Books.
- 1 2 "General Acts, Resolutions and Memorials Adopted by the ... Legislature of Florida ..." Office of the Floridian and Journal. February 15, 1870 – via Google Books.
- ↑ "United States Congressional Serial Set". U.S. Government Printing Office. February 15, 1877 – via Google Books.
- ↑ Brown, Canter (February 15, 1998). Florida's Black Public Officials, 1867-1924. University of Alabama Press. ISBN 9780817309152 – via Google Books.
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