African American officeholders during and following the Reconstruction era

Scholars have identified more than 1,500 African American officeholders who served during the Reconstruction Era (1865–1877)^[1] 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.

This list is incomplete; you can help by . (August 2021)

U.S. Senate[]

• Hiram Rhodes Revels (R), Senator from Mississippi (1870-1871)
• Blanche Bruce (R), Senator from Mississippi (1875-1881)

U.S. House[]

Alabama[]

State Senate[]

• - Perry
• James K. Greene - Hale
• Jeremiah Haralson - Dallas
• - Lowndes
• Lloyd Leftwich - Greene
• Benjamin F. Royal representing Bullock County (1868-1876)

1868 Legislature[]

From 1868 to 1878 more than 100 African Americans served in the Alabama Legislature.^[2]

House[]

• Benjamin F. Alexander representing Greene County
• representing Macon County
• Matt Avery representing Perry County
• - Lee
• Nathan A. Brewington - Lowndes
• Richard Burke - Sumter
• John Carraway - Mobile
• George Cox - Montgomery
• Thomas Diggs - Barbour
• - Dallas
• Ovide Gregory - Mobile
• James K. Greene - Hale
• D. H. Hill - Bullock
• George Houston - Sumter
• - Sumter
• - Madison
• - Marengo
• Shandy W. Jones - Tuscaloosa
• Horace King - Russell
• Thomas Lee - Perry
• Greene S. W. Lewis - Perry
• - Madison
• A. G. Richardson - Wilcox
• Lawrence S. Speed - Bullock
• W. L. Taylor - Chambers
• Holland Thompson - Montgomery
• William V. Turner - Elmore
• - Dallas
• L. J. Williams - Montgomery
• Henry Young - Lowndes

1870 legislature[]

House[]

• George W. Braxdell - Talladega
• Thomas Clark - Barbour
• - Dallas
• - Montgomery
• - Perry
• Thomas H. Diggs - Barbour
• - Perry
• - Lowndes
• - Dallas
• James K. Greene - Hale
• Jere Haralson - Dallas
• Horace King - Russell
• R. L. Johnson - Dallas
• Henry St. Clair - Macon
• Lawrence Speed - Bullock
• Holland Thompson - Montgomery
• - Lowndes
• - Marengo
• L. J. Williams - Montgomery

1872 Legislature[]

House[]

• William E. Carson - Lowndes
• Thomas J. Clarke - Barbour
• Henry A. Cochran - Dallas
• - Sumter
• - Perry
• - Montgomery
• - Barbour
• - Dallas
• James K. Greene - Hale
• R. L. Johnson - Dallas
• - Madison
• Greene S. W. Lewis - Perry
• Perry Mathews - Bullock
• January Maull - Lowndes
• - Wilcox
• G. R. Millen - Russell
• George Patterson - Macon
• Samuel J. Patterson - Autauga
• Robert Reed - Sumter
• Bristo W. Reese - Hale
• Lawrence S. Speed - Bullock
• Henry St. Clair - Macon
• Lawson Steele - Montgomery
• William Taylor - Sumter
• B. R. Thomas - Marengo
• Frank H. Threatt - Marengo
• J. R. Treadwell - Russell
• Thomas H. Walker - Dallas
• A. E. Williams - Barbour
• L. J. Williams - Montgomery

1874 Legislature[]

House[]

• G. W. Allen - Bullock
• - Wilcox
• - Sumter
• - Dallas
• James Bliss - Sumter
• Matthew Boyd - Perry
• - Montgomery
• Elijah Cook - Montgomery
• D. J. Daniels - Russell
• Charles Fagan - Montgomery
• Adam Gachet - Barbour
• - Russell
• William Gaskin _ Lowndes
• Charles E. Harris - Dallas
• A. W. Johnson - Macon
• Samuel Lee - Lowndes
• Greene S. W. Lewis - Perry
• Edwin C. Locke - Wilcox
• Jacob Martin - Dallas
• Perry Matthews - Bullock
• - Wilcox
• - Barbour
• George Patterson - Macon
• Bristo W. Reese - Hale
• Robert Reid - Sumter
• Charles Smith - Bullock
• A. E. Williams - Barbour
• J. R. Witherspoon - Perry
• Manly Wynne - Hale

1876 Legislature[]

House[]

• - Wilcox
• - Dallas
• Hugh A. Carson - Lowndes
• - Montgomery
• Charles O. Harris - Montgomery
• Green T. Johnston - Dallas
• Captain Gilmer - Montgomery
• Greene S. W. Lewis - Perry
• Nimrod Snoddy - Greene
• - Dallas

1878 Legislature[]

House[]

• Hugh A. Carson representing Lowndes County
• George English representing Wilcox County^[3][4]

Other[]

• William Hooper Councill, clerk in the Alabama legislature in 1872 and 1874^[5]

Arkansas[]

Between 1868 and 1893, 85 men noted as either "Colored" or Mulatto served in the state legislature (House and Senate) of Arkansas. They served under the 1868 Arkansas Constitution that granted them the right to vote and hold office and then the 1874 Constitution, instituted after Democrats retook control of state government. After 1893, the next African-American to serve as a state legislator in Arkansas was in 1973.^[6]

• Joseph Carter Corbin, chief clerk of the Little Rock Post Office (1872), state superintendent of public schools (1873-1875)
• William Henry Grey, Arkansas Constitutional Convention (1868)
• James T. White, Arkansas Constitutional Convention (1868), commissioner of public works and internal improvements (1872)

Senate[]

• James W. Mason (1871)
• James T. White (1871)
• Ruben B. White (1873)
• Samuel H. Holland (1873, 1874)
• Richard A. Dawson (1873, 1874)
• William Henry Grey (1875)
• Anthony Stanford (1877-1880)
• W. H. Logan, (1887, 1889)
• George Waltham Bell (1891)

House[]

• William Henry Grey (1868-1869)
• James T. White (1868-1870)
• James M. Alexander, Arkansas House (1871), first African-American justice of the peace as well as postmaster, school trustee, and grand jury member.
• (1871)
• , (1871, 1874-75)
• (1871)
• (1873)
• (1873)
• Abraham H. Miller (1874 - 1875)
• (1877)
• Anderson Ebberson (1877) for Jefferson County
• (1877) for Phillips County, Arkansas
• James Wofford (1877) for Crittenden County
• (1877) for Lincoln County^[7]
• (1877) for Lee County
• Jacob N. Donohoo (1877, 1887, 1889, 1891) for Phillips County, Arkansas
• William Hines Furbush (1878)
• Anderson Ebberson (1881)
• (1881)
• William C. Payne (1881)
• (1881)^[8]
• Isaac George Bailey (1885)
• Joseph H. Bradford (1885)
• Joseph Brooks (1885)
• Green Hill Jones (1885 and 1889)
• George W. Bell, Arkansas House (1891 and 1893)
• Hugh C. Newsome (1887)
• John H. Carr (1889, 1891, 1893)
• Sebron Williams Dawson (1889, 1891)
• Henry A. Johnson (1891)
• R. C. Weddington (1891)
• Benjamin F. Adair (1891)
• John Gray Lucas (1891)
• George W. Lowe (1891)
• S. L. Woolfolk (1891)
• G. W. Watson (1891)
• (1891)
• Henry A. Johnson (1891)^[7][9]
• Peter H. Booth (1893)
• Nathan E. Edwards (1893)

Local office[]

• Mifflin Wistar Gibbs, Arkansas, judge, younger brother of Jonathan Clarkson Gibbs.

Colorado[]

House[]

• John T. Gunnell (1881)
• Joseph H. Stuart (1895)

Local offices[]

• Henry O. Wagoner, clerk in the first Colorado State Legislature in 1876

Florida[]

• Jonathan Clarkson Gibbs, Florida Secretary of State and Florida Secretary of Public Instruction

Senate[]

• Charles H. Pearce, 1870 to 1884
• Samuel Spearing, 1874
• Robert Meacham, 1876
• Henry Wilkins Chandler, s 1881 to 1887
• Daniel C. Martin, Florida state senator in 1885 and 1887

House[]

• representing Madison County 1877, 1879, 1885^{[citation needed]}
• representing Duval County in 1887
• Josiah Haynes Armstrong representing Columbia County in 1871, 1872, and 1875
• Richard Horatio Black (February 11, 1839 - May 13, 1911), soldier, teacher, Volusia County registrar, Alachua County justice of the peace, Florida House of Representative for Alachua County 1869 and 1870, custom house position in Philadelphia^[10]
• William Bradwell, delegate to the 1868 Florida Constitutional Convention, and member of the Florida House from Duval County 1868 to 1870
• Richard Lewis Brown Sr. (1854 - August 24, 1948), served in the Florida House of Representatives for Duval County in 1881 and 1883^[11]
• , Leon County 1881 and 1887
• (born March 1847), served in the Florida House of Representatives in 1881 from Leon County^[12]
• Joseph Newman Clinton
• Thomas Van Renssalaer Gibbs, Florida House of Representatives, son of Jonathan Clarkson Gibbs
• (January 1851 - 1926) represented Nassau County, Florida in the House in 1881
• Oliver J. Coleman (1844 - May 29, 1926) represented Madison County, Florida in the House in 1871, 1872, and 1875. Also served in the Florida Senate in 1874, as a county commissioner, and Madison councilman^[13]
• (1825 - October 11, 1874) served in the House for Marion County in 1873 and 1874^[14][13]
• Zebulon Elijah
• Frederick Hill, state representative
• John R. Scott Jr.
• Noah Graham, Leon County
• Scipio Jasper, Marion County
• Lucien Fisher, Marion County
• Samuel Small, Marion County
• Birch Gibson, Marion County
• Singleton Coleman, Marion County

Local officials[]

• James Page (minister), Leon County commissioner

Georgia[]

Senate[]

• Aaron Alpeoria Bradley, state senator from Chatham County
• Tunis Campbell, State Senator from Georgia
• George Wallace, State Senator from Hancock, Baldwin and Washington counties

House[]

• Eli Barnes, state legislator from Hancock County
• Abram Colby, state representative from Greene County
• James Ward Porter, state legislator from Chatham County
• Henry McNeal Turner, state legislator from Bibb County
• William Guilford, state legislator from Upson County
• William Henry Harrison, state legislator from Hancock County
• Thomas M. Allen, state representative from Jasper County
• , state representative from Richmond County
• Edwin Belcher, state representative from Wilkes County
• George H. Clower, state representative from Monroe County
• Abram Colby, state representative from Greene County
• Romulus Moore, state representative from Columbia County
• John T. Costin, state representative from Talbot County
• Madison Davis, state representative from Clarke County
• Monday Floyd, state representative from Morgan County
• F. H. Fyall, state representative from Macon County
• Samuel Gardner, state representative from Warren County
• , state representative from Liberty County
• Ulysses L. Houston, state representative from Bryan County
• James M. Simms, state representative from Chatham County
• Philip Joiner, state representative from Dougherty County
• George Linder, state representative from Laurens County
• , state representative from Macon County
• , state representative from Baldwin County
• Alfred Richardson, state representative from Clarke County
• Alexander Stone, state representative from Jefferson County
• , state representative from Muscogee County
• , state representative from Burke County
• , state representative from Harris County
• Hercules Wilson, state representative from McIntosh County (1882-1885)
• Amos Rogers, state representative from McIntosh County (1878-1879)
• Lectured Crawford, state representative from McIntosh County (1886-1887, 1890-1891, 1900-1901)
• , state representative from Greene County (1873-1874)
• , state representative from Houston County (1871-1872)
• James Blue, state representative from Glynn County (1871-1877)
• , state representative from Stewart County (1871-1872)
• , state representative from Camden County (1878-1879)
• , state representative from Camden County (1890-1891)

Illinois[]

House[]

• John W. E. Thomas
• George French Ecton
• James E. Bish
• Edward H. Morris

Indiana[]

House[]

• James S. Hinton (1881)

Kansas[]

House[]

• Alfred Fairfax, 1889

Louisiana[]

In Louisiana 24 African Americans served in the Louisiana Senate and more than 100 served in the Louisiana House of Representatives. Three African Americans served as Louisiana's Lieutenant Governor.^[15]

• Oscar James Dunn, Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana 1868–1871, First African American elected to a state-level position in the United States.
• P.B.S. Pinchback, Lieutenant Governor and Governor of Louisiana
• Caeser C. Antoine, Lieutenant Governor

Senate[]

• Theophile T. Allain, Louisiana House of Representatives and Louisiana Senate
• J. Henry Burch
• John Gair

House[]

• Aristede Dejoie
• Pierre Caliste Landry, Louisiana House of Representatives
• Milton Morris, Louisiana House of Representatives, represented Ascension Parish
• William Murrell
• , father of Anthony Overton^[16]
• Robert R. Ray
• R. M. J. Kenners^[17]
• ^[17]

Local offices[]

• Thomas Morris Chester, superintendent of school district (1875)
• James Lewis (Louisiana politician), administrator of public improvements in New Orleans in 1872, appointed New Orleans naval officer in 1877
• , Avoyelles Parish Sheriff, Louisiana (1872)
• , Avoyelles Parish Sheriff, Louisiana (1868–1872)

Maryland[]

Local offices[]

• William H. Day Baltimore Inspector of Schools, in 1878 he was elected to the school board of directors at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

Massachusetts[]

House[]

• Edward G. Walker, 1866
• , 1866
• John J. Smith, Massachusetts House, 1868, 1872
• George Lewis Ruffin, Massachusetts House, 1870
• Lewis Hayden, Massachusetts House, 1873
• Joshua Bowen Smith, Massachusetts House, 1873
• George W. Lowther, Massachusetts House, 1878
• Julius C. Chappelle, Massachusetts House, 1883
• , Massachusetts House, 1887
• , Massachusetts House, 1889
• , Massachusetts House, 1892
• Robert T. Teamoh, Massachusetts House, 1894
• William L. Reed, Massachusetts House, 1896

Local offices[]

• James Monroe Trotter, mail agent

Michigan[]

House[]

• William Webb Ferguson, 1893
• Joseph H. Dickinson, 1897

local offices[]

• Samuel C. Watson, State Board of Estimates, 1875; Detroit City Council, 1875, 1883-1886

Minnesota[]

House[]

• John F. Wheaton, 1898

Mississippi[]

U.S. Senate[]

Mississippi was the only U.S. state that elected African American candidates to the U.S. Senate during the Reconstruction Era:

• Hiram Rhodes Revels (R), Senator from Mississippi (1870-1871)
• Blanche Bruce (R), Senator from Mississippi (1875-1881)

State Senate[]

• George W. Albright
• Peter Barrow, State Senator from Mississippi
• Blanche Bruce, Bolivar County sheriff, tax collector, supervisor of education; sergeant-at-arms for the Mississippi state senate in 1870; state senator in 1874 (U.S. Senate in 1875-1881)
• Charles Caldwell
• Alexander K. Davis
• Robert Gleed
• James Hill, Mississippi Secretary of State, Mississippi House of Representatives
• Isham Stewart

State House[]

• Jesse Freeman Boulden
• Orange Brunt
• James D. Cessor
• George W. Gayles, Mississippi House of Representatives
• John R. Lynch, Mississippi House of Representatives, elected to U.S. House of Representatives
• James J. Spelman Mississippi House of Representatives, justice of the peace and alderman of the city of Canton, Mississippi
• Thomas Sykes
• ^[18]

Other[]

• Thomas Cardozo, Mississippi Superintendent of Education
• Alexander K. Davis, Lieutenant Governor, Mississippi House of Representatives
• James D. Lynch, Secretary of State of Mississippi

Nebraska[]

House[]

• Matthew O. Ricketts (1893 - 1897)^[19]

Local offices[]

• Edwin R. Overall, appointed mail carrier in 1869

North Carolina[]

• Israel Abbott, member of the North Carolina House of Representatives (1872-1874)^[20]
• John O. Crosby, 1875 delegate from Warren County, North Carolina to the North Carolina State Constitutional Convention^[21]
• James Walker Hood, commissioner for the states public schools and assistant superintendent of public instruction in North Carolina (1868-1871)^[22]
• John S. Leary, North Carolina State legislature (1868-1871), alderman in Fayetteville, North Carolina (1876-1877)
• John Hudson Riddick, city council of Norfolk and appointed United States deputy marshal, 1872

Ohio[]

Senate[]

• John P. Green, 1892

House[]

• George W. Williams, 1879
• John P. Green, 1882
• Benjamin W. Arnett, 1886
• Jere A. Brown, 1886
• Robert Harlan, 1886
• William H. Copeland, 1888
• George H. Jackson, 1892
• , 1894
• , 1894
• , 1894-1898, 1899-1902
• William H. Parham, 1896
• William R. Stewart, 1896
• George A. Myers, 1897

Local offices[]

• Jeremiah A. Brown, Cleveland, bailiff of the county probate court, deputy sheriff and county prison turnkey, then clerk of the City Boards of Equalization and Revision.^[23]
• Robert James Harlan, mail agent

South Carolina[]

• Richard H. Cain, South Carolina Senate (1868 – 1870), later U.S. House and U.S. Senate
• Francis Lewis Cardozo, Secretary of State of South Carolina (1868 – 1872), South Carolina State Treasurer (1872 – 1877)
• Robert B. Elliott, State House lawmaker, and U.S. Representative from South Carolina
• Richard Theodore Greener, South Carolina school system commissioner, 1875.^[24]
• , clerk of South Carolina House of Representatives, 1868-1876.^[25]
• Robert Smalls, South Carolina Representative, South Carolina Senator, U.S. Representative
• D. Augustus Straker, South Carolina House of Representatives, also Inspector of Customs at the port of Charleston and clerk in the auditors office of the treasury in Washington
• Alonzo J. Ransier, Lt. Governor of South Carolina (December 3, 1870 – December 7, 1872) and later served as US Congressman (March 3, 1873 – March 3, 1875)
• Jonathan J. Wright, lawyer, South Carolina State Senator (November 24, 1868 – January 30, 1870) and First Black Associate Justice of South Carolina Supreme Court (January 11, 1870 – December 1, 1877)

State Senate[]

• Henry E. Hayne representing Marion County
• representing Sumter County
• William B. Nash representing Richland County
• William R. Hoyt
• Colleton
• Jonathan Jasper Wright Beaufort
• Beaufort
• Thomas E. Miller Beaufort
• Beaufort
• Beaufort
• Robert Smalls Beaufort
• Williamsburg
• Joseph H. Rainey Georgetown
• Reverend representing Chester County
• Chester
• Dublin I. Walker Chester
• Chester
• Fairfield
• Fairfield
• Sanders Ford Fairfield
• Fairfield
• Charles D. Hayne Aiken
• Berkeley
• Reverend Clarendon
• Henry Cardozo Kershaw
• Frederick A. Clinton Lancaster
• Hiram W. Duncan Union
• Benjamin F. Randolph Orangeburg
• Orangeburg
• Samuel L. Duncan Orangeburg
• James L. Jamison Orangeburg
• Richard H. Cain Orangeburg
• Lawrence Cain Edgefield

House of Representatives[]

• representing Kershaw County from 1868 until 1870
• representing Kershaw County from 1870 until 1874
• representing Marion County from 1872 until 1876
• representing Charleston County from 1872 until 1874
• Georgetown County from 1890 to 1898
• Sumter County from 1874 to 1876
• Samuel J. Bampfield Beaufort
• Fairfield County from 1868 until 1872
• representing Beaufort County
• Georgetown County from 1884 to 1890
• representing Berkeley Countyfrom 1882 to 1884
• representing Greenville Countyfrom 1868 until 1870
• J. W. Bolts Georgetown County from 1898 to 1900 also served from 1900 to 1902
• representing Charleston County from 1868 until 1873
• John Boston representing Darlington County
• representing Newberry County from 1868 until 1876
• James A. Bowley representing Georgetown County from 1869 until 1874
• Aiken
• Newberry
• Charleston
• Charleston
• Charleston
• Charleston
• representing Berkeley County/Orangeburg County from 1870 until 1872
• Charleston
• Barney Burton Chester
• Abbeville
• Edward J. Cain Orangeburg
• Lawrence Cain Edgefield
• Richard H. Cain Orangeburg
• Christian Wesley Caldwell representing Orangeburg from 1876 to 1878
• Kershaw
• Colleton
• Barnwell
• Wilson Cooke Greenville
• Chester in 1875 and 1876
• Clarendon
• Richland
• Abram Dannerly representing Orangeburg County
• York County from 1873 to 1876
• Richland
• representing Charleston County from 1870 until 1876
• Robert C. DeLarge Charleston
• Kershaw
• Orangeburg
• Charleston
• representing Charleston County from 1880 to 1882
• William A. Driffle Colleton
• Samuel L. Duncan Orangeburg County
• representing Charleston County from 1878 to 1880
• Charleston
• Robert B. Elliott representing Barnwell/Edgefield/Aiken
• Charleston
• Abbeville
• Williamsburg
• Beaufort
• Simeon Farr Union
• Union
• Beaufort
• Charleston
• Ellis Forrest Orangeburg
• Colleton
• Orangeburg
• Charleston
• Williamsburg
• Sumter
• Kershaw
• Beaufort
• Edgefield
• Kershaw
• Kershaw
• Fairfield
• Fortune Giles representing Williamsburg County
• Richland
• Charleston
• Abbeville
• Aesop Goodson Richland
• Edgefield
• Marlboro
• Charleston
• Charles S. Green Georgetown
• Edgefield
• representing Beaufort County from 1870 until 1875
• Newberry
• Beaufort
• James J. Hardy representing Charleston County in 1870 and 1871
• Darlington
• Georgetown
• Edgefield
• Eben Hayes representing Marion County
• Charles D. Hayne Barnwell
• Barnwell
• Marion
• Charleston
• Newberry
• Newberry
• Aiken County
• Colleton
• Marion
• Kershaw
• Darlington
• Chester
• Lancaster
• Alfred T. B. Hunter, state representative from Laurens County (1874 – 1876)
• Barnwell
• Fairfield
• Sumter
• James L. Jamison Orangeburg
• Aiken
• Charleston
• Laurens
• Marion
• Chesterfield
• Fairfield
• representing Sumter County in 1868 and 1769
• Charleston
• Orangeburg
• Charleston
• Orangeburg
• Georgetown
• Darlington
• Jordan Lang Darlington
• Chester
• Fairfield
• Charleston
• Samuel J. Lee representing Edgefield County/Aiken County from 1868 until 1874
• Charleston
• Chester
• Charleston
• representing Abbeville County
• Richland
• Colleton
• Abbeville
• Barnwell
• James P. Mays Orangeburg
• Laurens
• Georgetown
• representing Orangeburg/Charleston
• York
• Charleston
• Edward C. Mickey Charleston
• Barnwell
• Fairfield
• Fairfield
• Thomas E. Miller Beaufort from 1874 until 1880
• Laurens
• Beaufort
• Syphax Milton Clarendon
• Richland
• Beaufort
• Junius S. Mobley Union
• Fairfield
• Shadrack Morgan Orangeburg
• Beaufort
• Georgetown
• Colleton
• representing Kershaw County
• Clarendon
• Charleston
• Barnwell
• Charleston
• Samuel Nuckles Union
• Barnwell County
• Robert John Palmer Richland
• Charleston
• Williamsburg
• Laurens
• James F. Peterson Williamsburg County from 1872 to 1878
• Charleston
• Charleston
• Thomas Pressley Williamsburg
• Charleston
• Lexington
• representing Sumter County from 1869 until 1876
• Alonzo J. Ransier Charleston
• Berkeley
• Beaufort
• Beaufort
• Beaufort
• Colleton
• Berkeley
• Orangeburg
• Prince R. Rivers Edgefield/Aiken
• Beaufort
• Beaufort
• Beaufort
• Alfred Rush Darlington
• Orangeburg
• Sancho Saunders Chester
• Williamsburg
• Williamsburg
• Beaufort
• Chesterfield
• Edgefield
• Edgefield
• Hercules Simmons Colleton
• Orangeburg
• Beaufort
• Edgefield
• William Simons Richland
• Chester
• Berkeley
• Berkeley
• Sumter
• Chesterfield
• Robert Smalls Beaufort
• Colleton
• Charleston
• Sumter
• Charleston
• Darlington
• Powell Smythe Clarendon
• Sumter
• Abbeville
• Charleston
• Charles H. Sperry Georgetown
• York
• Laurens
• Colleton
• Marlboro
• Marion
• Samuel B. Thompson Richland
• Richland
• William M. Thomas Colleton
• Charleston
• representing Charleston County from 1872 until 1873
• representing Abbeville County in1868
• Charleston
• Berkeley
• Dublin Walker Chester from 1874 until 1877
• Orangeburg
• Clarendon
• Beaufort
• Edgefield
• Richland
• Sumter
• Richland
• William James Whipper Beaufort
• Abbeville County
• Beaufort
• Richland
• Georgetown
• Sumter
• Darlington
• John B. Wright Charleston York County
• Charleston
• Chester
• Laurens

Local offices[]

• Harrison N. Bouey, probate judge in Edgefield County

Tennessee[]

• Sampson W. Keeble (1873)
• John W. Boyd (1881 - 1884)
• Thomas F. Cassels (1881 - 1882)
• Isaac F. Norris (1881 - 1882)
• Thomas A. Sykes (1881 - 1882), also served in the North Carolina House of Representatives
• David F. Rivers (1883 - 1884)
• Greene E. Evans
• William A. Feilds (1885 - 1886)
• William C. Hodge
• Monroe W. Gooden (1887-1889)
• Samuel A. McElwee, member of the Tennessee General Assembly (1883 - 1888)
• Styles Linton Hutchins (1887 - 1888)
• Jesse M. H. Graham^[26]

Texas[]

Three African-Americans won election to the Texas Senate and 32 others served in the Texas House of Representatives during the Reconstruction era.^[27]

Senate[]

• George T. Ruby (1870 - 1873)
• Walter Moses Burton
• Matthew Gaines (1869 - 1873)

House[]

• Richard Allen (1869), ran for Lieutenant Governor in 1878
• Edward Anderson
• Alexander Asberry
• Thomas Beck
• D. W. Burley
• Goldsteen Dupree
• Robert J. Evans^[28]
• Harriel G. Geiger
• Nathan H. Haller
• Jeremiah J. Hamilton
• William H. Holland
• Mitchell Kendall
• Robert A. Kerr
• ^[29]
• Robert A. Kerr (1842–1912)
• David Medlock
• Robert J. Moore
• Sheppard Mullens
• Edward Patton
• (Riptoe/ Ripetoe)^[30]
• Robert Lloyd Smith
• ^[31]
• Allen W. Wilder^[32]
• Benjamin Franklin Williams^[33]
• ^[34]
• ^[35]
• E. C. Mobley (1883) representing Robertson County

Virginia[]

• William H. Ash
• Thomas Bayne
• Samuel P. Bolling
• Phillip S. Bolling
• Tazewell Branch
• Peter J. Carter
• Asa Coleman
• Johnson Collins
• Aaron Commodore
• John Wesley Cromwell, Clerk of the Virginia Constitutional Convention (1867), Washington D.C. government clerk
• Isaac Dabbs
• William Gilliam
• Joseph P. Evans
• Peter K. Jones
• Peter G. Morgan
• Armistead S. Nickens
• Richard G. L. Paige
• , Norfolk City Council (c. 1885)
• P. H. A. Braxton, constable in King William County in 1872, collector at the United States Custom House in Westmoreland County

Washington[]

House[]

• William Owen Bush, 1889

West Virginia[]

House[]

• Christopher Payne, 1896

Wyoming[]

House[]

• William Jefferson Hardin, 1879

Washington, D.C.[]

• Solomon G. Brown, House of Delegates for Washington D.C. (1871-1874), employee at the Smithsonian^[36]
• John Mercer Langston, appointed member of the Board of Health of the District of Columbia
• John H. Smythe, 1872, clerk in the U.S. Census Bureau, clerk in the Treasury department, 1878 ambassador to Liberia

• William E. Matthews, clerk in the United States Postal Service in Washington D.C. in 1870, the first black person to receive an appointment in that department^[37]
• Josiah T. Settle, reading clerk of the Washington, D.C. House of Delegates (1872), clerk in the Board of Public Works, as an accountant in the Board of Audits, and as a trustee of the county schools for the district

See also[]

• List of African-American United States senators
• List of African-American United States representatives
• List of African-American Republicans
• List of African American firsts

References[]

Further reading[]

• A Brief Biography of John Willis Menard from Southern University's John B. Cade Library
• Bailey, Richard. Black Officeholders During the Reconstruction of Alabama, 1867-1878 (Pyramid Publishing) Available from author.
• Bailey, Richard. Neither Carpetbaggers Nor Scalawags: Black Officeholders During the Reconstruction of Alabama, 1867-1878. Montgomery: Richard Bailey Publishers, 1995.
• Canter Brown, Jr. Florida's Black Public Officials, 1867-1924. Tuscaloosa and London: The University of Alabama Press, 1998.
• Eric Foner ed., Freedom's Lawmakers: A Directory of Black Officeholders During Reconstruction Revised Edition. (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1996). ISBN 0-8071-2082-0. Between 1865 and 1877, about two thousand blacks held elective and appointive offices in the South. A few are relatively well-known, but most have been obscure and omitted from official state histories. Foner profiles more than 1,500 black legislators, state officials, sheriffs, justices of the peace, and constables in this volume.
• John Hope Franklin "John Roy Lynch: Republican Stalwart from Mississippi" in Howard Rabinowitz (ed.), Southern Black Leaders of the Reconstruction Era, (Urbana: 1982) and reprinted in John Hope Franklin, Race and History: Selected Essays, 1938-1988, Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1989
• Mifflin Wistar Gibbs Shadow and Light: An Autobiography Autobiography with Reminiscences of the Last and Present Century, Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska Press, 1995.
• Rabinowitz, Howard N. Southern Black Leaders of the Reconstruction Era (University of Illinois Press: 1982)[1] Section on "Congressmen" includes profiles of "John R. Lynch: Republican Stalwart from Mississippi" by John Hope Franklin, "James T. Rapier of Alabama and the Noble Cause of Reconstruction" by Loren Schweninger, and "James O'Hara of North Carolina: Black Leadership and Local Government" by Eric Anderson.

External links[]

• African American Legislators in Virginia
• Black Legislators in Georgia