Hiram R. Revels: First Black Senator Replaced Jefferson Davis … from Mississippi
Author: Bobby Valentine | Filed under: American Empire, Black History, Bobby's World, Love, Race Relations
For the Love of Christ Compels Me … (Paul)
Justice and only justice you shall pursue … (Holy Spirit thru Moses)
Do you know who Hiram Revels was? If not, that is why we need Black History Month.
HIRAM REVELS (1822/27-1901)
The period after the Civil War was a time of great promise and opportunity that was sorely squandered and then literally undone by what is called “Redemption.” In that time African Americans made enormous strides in education, in economics, in rights, and in participating in the American Experiment.
Hiram Revels was born a free man in North Carolina to a family of free people. He was born either in 1822 or 1827 (historians debate it) and died in 1901. Like so many people of color of the day he was also mixed and was called an “Octoroon.” But he was black by law (the “One Drop Rule!”). He was trained as a barber at a young age, which was a job that was open to “free” black men. As a teen he went to Indiana to attend schools run for “Negros” (term of the day) by Quakers.
He was ordained in the African Methodist Episcopal Church and served various congregations. He was imprisoned in 1854 in Missouri for preaching Christianity to slaves. He joined the United States Army and served in the same battle that Sylvester Magee did (see Feb 3 post).
SENATOR, 1870
After the War against the Slave Empire, Revels settled in Natchez serving as a minister and establishing several schools for African Americans. He was so well liked by his constituents that he was elected to the Mississippi State Senate in 1868. He was one of 35 black representatives in Mississippi elected that year! He was so effective a statesman that in 1870, He was elected by the Mississippi Senate to be a United States Senator. He became the first black man to serve in either the House or the Senate.
Newspapers of the day noted the irony that a black man from Mississippi was taking the one of the seats vacated by the treasonous Jefferson Davis in the interest of black slavery.
Southern Democrats vociferously opposed the recognition of Revels and allowing him to sit in the halls of Congress. He was attacked in gross racist harangues in speech and in the press. Many Northerners, both Republicans and Democrats, defended him and he did take his seat as the first Black Senator in US history.
Revels, in his acceptance speech, tried to assure fearful whites that he would represent African Americans but he was also Senator for whites as well. (Like the ancient Egyptians, the former oppressors lived in a cycle of fear that bred hate and more oppression, Exodus 2.8-14). He said of the new freed black slaves, “they aim not to elevate themselves by sacrificing one single interest of their fellow white citizens.” There was no interest in revenge but they would insist on being a “fellow” citizen.
Revels championed the desegregation of public schools in Washington D.C. He argued for the desegregation of the US Army. He was a champion of public education for all. He supported infrastructure in the State of Mississippi especially railroad links with New Orleans that would bring jobs and economic growth the entire State. He sought, successfully, to show that the millions of racist caricatures of were as wrong as can be.
Revels only finished out the term vacated by Davis. When his term was up he became the first President of what is now Alcorn State University. He would remain active in promoting causes of equality and dignity for all people. He even protested to President Grant what he thought was vile corruption in the Republican Party which was taking advantage of the black electorate (who in spite of massive strides in education was still often illiterate).
When he sat for the Senate, Louis Prang and Company took a photo (a chromolithograph as it was called) of him. It was distributed by the thousands and printed by many magazines and journals. Frederick Douglass thought the photograph alone was worth a million speeches. It was a powerful refutation to every racist trope, cartoon, depiction and speech of the slave men and those who bought that ideology. (See attached photograph).
Life long Jesus follower. Life long educator with a mission (for black and whites). Life long advocate for slaves and then “Freedmen” (as former slaves were called). Life long Patriot and lover of the United States. He bore severe attacks that are often simply embarrassing to read (and that is with hushed voices). He blazed the trail and he did it from Mississippi. But “Redemption” obliterated his legacy and so much more.
When I was in Grenada, MS I started doing stuff for Black History Month. No one knew who he was, except Ernst Hargrove. Rather than name lakes and state parks after Revels and Bruce Blanche, they named them for defenders of slavery and racism. Do you know who Hiram Revels was? If not, this is why we Americans need Black History Month.
The Truth Shall Set You Free … (Jesus of Nazareth)
For Shalom
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Growing Up in White and Black in the Heart of the Mississippi Delta
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