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Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchback was an American publisher, politician, and Union Army officer. Pinchback was the second African American to serve as governor and lieutenant governor of a U.S. state. A Republican, Pinchback served as acting governor of Louisiana from December 9, 1872, to January 13, 1873. He was one of the most prominent African-American officeholders during the Reconstruction Era.
From the first United States Congress in 1789 through the 116th Congress in 2020, 162 African Americans served in Congress. Meanwhile, the total number of all individuals who have served in Congress over that period is 12,348. Between 1789 and 2020, 152 have served in the House of Representatives, 9 have served in the Senate, and 1 has served in both chambers. Voting members have totaled 156, with 6 serving as delegates. Party membership has been 131 Democrats and 31 Republicans. While 13 members founded the Congressional Black Caucus in 1971 during the 92nd Congress, in the 116th Congress (2019-2020), 56 served, with 54 Democrats and 2 Republicans.
John Adams Hyman was a U.S. Congressman from North Carolina from 1875 to 1877. A Republican, he was the first African American to represent the state in the House of Representatives. He was elected from North Carolina's 2nd congressional district, including counties in the northeast around New Bern. Earlier he served in the North Carolina Senate.
James Edward O'Hara was an American politician and attorney who in 1882, after Reconstruction, was the second African American to be elected to Congress from North Carolina. He was born in New York City to parents of mixed-race West Indian and Irish ancestry and was raised in the West Indies. As a young man, he traveled to the southern United States after the American Civil War with religious missionaries from the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, an independent black denomination, to help freedmen establish independent lives and new congregations. O'Hara became active in politics, being elected as a Republican to local and state offices.
Richard Howell Gleaves was a lawyer, merchant, and politician who served as the 55th Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina from December 7, 1872 to December 14, 1876. He served under Governors Franklin J. Moses, Jr. and Daniel Henry Chamberlain. A Haitian-American of mixed ancestry, Gleaves was notable as one of the highest elected black Americans during the Reconstruction Era.
James Henry Harris (1832–1891) was an American civil rights advocate, upholsterer, and politician. Born into slavery, he was freed as a young adult and worked as a carpenter's apprentice and worker before he went to Oberlin College in Ohio. For a time, he lived in Chatham, Ontario, where he was a member of the Chatham Vigilance Committee that aimed to prevent blacks being transported out of Canada and sold as slaves in the United States.
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.
James Walker Hood was an African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church bishop in North Carolina from 1872 to 1916. Before the Emancipation Proclamation, he was an active abolitionist, and during the American Civil War he went to New Bern, North Carolina where he preached for the church to the black people and soldiers in the area. He was very successful and became an important religious and political leader in North Carolina, becoming "one of the most significant and crucial African American religious and race leaders during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries". By 1887 he had founded over six hundred churches in Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina and erected about five hundred church buildings. He was politically and religiously active as well, supporting education, civil rights, and the ordination of women.
Thomas A. Sykes was an American politician and tax official. An African-American, he was born into slavery. After the Civil War, he served as a Republican member of the North Carolina House of Representatives for four one-year terms (1868–1872) and as a member of the Tennessee House of Representatives for one two-year term (1881–82). He represented Shelby County, Tennessee. He also served as a revenue collector and gauger. He lived in Nashville.
Frank Adamson (1809–1887) was a state legislator who served in the South Carolina House of Representatives during the Reconstruction era, from 1870 to 1874.
Curron J. Adolphe was a state legislator in Louisiana. He represented New Orleans in the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1868 to 1872 as a Republican. He was African American. He worked as a grocer and served on the State Library Committee.
George B. Willis was a state legislator in North Carolina. He represented Craven County in the North Carolina House of Representatives in 1870.
Edward Richard Dudley was a state legislator in North Carolina. He represented Craven County in the North Carolina House of Representatives in 1870 and 1872. He lived in New Bern. He was one of several African American state legislators who represented the area during the Reconstruction era.
Robert Simmons was a farmer and state legislator who served in the South Carolina State Senate from 1882 until 1886.
Richard Tucker was a carpenter, undertaker, and state legislator in North Carolina. He represented Craven County in the North Carolina House of Representatives in 1870 and in the North Carolina Senate in 1874 during the Reconstruction era.
William W. Watson Sr. was an American politician. He was a Republican Party political leader in Edgecombe County, North Carolina. He served in the North Carolina House of Representatives.
William Patrick Mabson, Sr., was an American educator, minister, newspaper owner, editor, and politician. He was a state legislator in North Carolina for at least two terms, active during the Reconstruction era. Mabson was one of the founders of Freedom Hill, Edgecombe County, North Carolina.
Ivey Hutchings was a state legislator in North Carolina. He was African American. He was one of three representatives for Halifax County, North Carolina in 1868. He served in the Committee on Corporations.
Valentine Howe Sr. was an African American builder and state legislator in North Carolina. He was elected in 1887 to the North Carolina House of Representatives, after defeating Alfred Moore Waddell. Hailing from a prominent family of carpenters and builders, Howe served as an alderman, vestryman, volunteer with the Cape Fear Fire Company, and was an Odd Fellow. He died at age 63 in 1904.
Hugh G. Tilley was a state legislator in North Carolina. He represented Granville County, North Carolina in the North Carolina House of Representatives in 1887 and 1889. He was a Republican.
References
- ↑ Crow, Jeffrey J.; Escott, Paul D.; Hatley, Flora J. (2002). A History of African Americans in North Carolina. ISBN 9780865263017.
- ↑ Foner, Eric (1996). Freedom's Lawmakers: A Directory of Black Officeholders During Reconstruction. Louisiana State University Press. p. 1. ISBN 9780807120828 . Retrieved 27 February 2016.