44th Congress

Joseph Hayne Rainey

Joseph Hayne Rainey

Congressman Joseph Rainey, born into slavery, was the first Black representative from South Carolina and the first African American to serve in the...

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Josiah Thomas Walls

Josiah Thomas Walls

Congressman Josiah Walls was the first Black representative to the U.S. House of Representatives from Florida. He served from 1871 to 1873 and from...

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John Roy Lynch

John Roy Lynch

Congressman John Lynch was the first Black American member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Mississippi and the youngest member of the 43rd...

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Blanche Kelso Bruce

Blanche Kelso Bruce

Senator Blanche Bruce escaped slavery at the outset of the Civil War and served as a Mississippi Senator from 1875 to 1881 (44th-46th Congresses)....

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Charles Edmund Nash

Charles Edmund Nash

A former sergeant for the Union Army, Congressman Charles Nash was the first Black American to represent Louisiana in the U.S. House of...

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Jeremiah Haralson

Jeremiah Haralson

Congressman Jeremiah Haralson, enslaved until 1865, was one of three Black Americans from Alabama who served in the U.S. House of Representatives...

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John Adams Hyman

John Adams Hyman

Congressman John Hyman, enslaved until 1865, was the first Black American to represent North Carolina in the U.S. House of Representatives, serving...

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Robert Smalls

Robert Smalls

Congressman Robert Smalls represented South Carolina in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1875 to 1879, 1882 to 1883, and from 1884 to 1887...

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