Person · 1827–1901
Hiram Rhodes Revels
The first African American to serve in the United States Senate, seated in 1870 during Reconstruction.
A landmark figure of [[reconstruction-politics]].
A free-born minister and educator, Hiram Revels recruited Black regiments during the Civil War and entered Mississippi politics during Reconstruction. In 1870 the state legislature elected him to the U.S. Senate — to the very seat once held by Confederate president Jefferson Davis.
His swearing-in, over the objections of senators who invoked the Dred Scott decision, was a landmark of the Reconstruction promise. He later served as president of Alcorn University.