John Mercer Langston Seated in Congress After Disputed Election

John Mercer Langston, the first Black American elected to public office in the U.S., first dean of Howard Law School, and U.S. Minister to Haiti, was seated in the U.S. House from Virginia in 1890 after a protracted legal fight over a stolen election. His life represented nearly every major Black institutional and political first of the 19th century.