John Roy Lynch Temporarily Reclaims Congressional Seat, Leads GOP Convention

John Roy Lynch, formerly enslaved in Mississippi, won a contested Congressional race in 1880 and served as temporary chairman of the Republican National Convention in 1884 — the first Black man to preside over a national political convention of a major party. His speech electrified the audience. He later served in the Army as paymaster and wrote 'The Facts of Reconstruction' to counter white revisionist histories.