The Reconstruction era was a period in American history following the American Civil War (1861–1865) and lasting until approximately the Compromise of 1877. During Reconstruction, attempts were made to rebuild the country after the bloody Civil War, bring the former Confederate states back into the United States, and to reinstate the political, social, and economic legacies of slavery.
Eric Foner is an American historian. He writes extensively on American political history, the history of freedom, the early history of the Republican Party, African American biography, the American Civil War, Reconstruction, and historiography, and has been a member of the faculty at the Columbia University Department of History since 1982. He is the author of several popular textbooks. According to the Open Syllabus Project, Foner is the most frequently cited author on college syllabi for history courses.
Ulysses L. Houston was a pastor and state legislator in Georgia. He was elected to the Georgia State Legislature in 1868, and was an influential organizer in Savannah, Georgia's African-American community during the mid-19th century.
William Fabriel Myers was a lawyer and state senator in South Carolina. An African American, he was involved in politics during the Reconstruction Era. He served as a state senator from 1874 until 1878.
Pierre George Deslondes, last name sometimes spelled Deslonde was an African-American sugar planter who served as Secretary of State of Louisiana during the Reconstruction era. He was a wealthy freeman. He served as secretary of state from 1872 until 1876. He later published the News Pioneer in Plaquemine. He owned $55,000 worth of property in 1860.
Robert H. Wood (1844–?) was an African American 19th-century politician, postmaster, and sheriff. He served as the first African American Mayor of Natchez, Mississippi from 1870 until 1871, and was part of the Adams County Board of Supervisors from 1871 to 1872. He was one of only five black mayors in the American South during the Reconstruction-era; and is thought to be the first black mayor in the United States.
Simeon W. Beard was a minister, teacher, and politician who worked in Charleston, South Carolina and then in Augusta, Georgia. He served in the Union Army. He was a delegate to Georgia's constitutional convention in 1867 and 1868. African American legislators were expelled from office in Georgia.
Lawrence S. Speed was a farmer and state legislator in Alabama during the Reconstruction era. He was one of five African Americans who represented Bullock County in those years. He was also a Union League organizer in Bullock County.
Joseph E. Oates was a carpenter and politician in Florida, United States.
Nathan A. Brewington was a state legislator in Alabama during the Reconstruction era. He represented Lowndes County from 1868 until 1870. He was prosperous.
Blanc F. Joubert (1816–1885) was a politician in Louisiana.
Samuel Gaillard (1839–1879) was an American businessman and state legislator in South Carolina. He represented Charleston County in the state senate from 1870 to 1877 when he resigned after Democrats regained control of South Carolina and engaged in a purge of Republicans.
Sanders Ford was a farmer and state legislator in South Carolina. He was elected to represent Fairfield County, South Carolina in the South Carolina Senate in 1872, and died in office in 1873.
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.
Tenant Weatherly was a state legislator in Mississippi. He represented Holmes County, Mississippi from 1874 to 1875 and 1880 to 1881 in the Mississippi House of Representatives. He was a Methodist.
Hezekiah Hamilton Hunter (1837–1894) was an American teacher, minister, and politician. He was an African-American politician during the Reconstruction Era and served in the South Carolina House of Representatives from 1870 to 1872.
George Washington was a cotton planter and state legislator in the U.S. state of Louisiana. He represented Concordia Parish in the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1870 to 1874 and from 1877 to 1879. He also served on the parish's school board in 1870. He served on the House Committee on Public Lands and Levees chaired by P. Jones Yorke.
Lafayette Robinson was a bank cashier who served as a delegate to Alabama's 1867 Constitutional Convention representing Madison County, Alabama. He also served on the Huntsville School Board. He worked at the Freedman's Savings Bank in Huntsville.
George Young Kelso was an American politician. He was delegate at Louisiana’s 1868 constitutional convention and state senator in Louisiana from 1868 to 1876. He was a “colored”, “radical” Republican.
Jules A. Masicot was a state legislator in Louisiana. He served in the Louisiana House of Representatives and Louisiana State Senate and at the state's 1868 constitutional convention.
