Joseph Hayne Rainey Becomes First Black Member of the U.S. House of Representatives

Joseph Hayne Rainey of South Carolina was sworn in on December 12, 1870 as the first African American to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives. A former enslaved man who had served the Confederate Navy before escaping to the Bahamas, Rainey served five terms and became a forceful advocate for civil rights legislation and the enforcement of Reconstruction amendments.