Black Political Officeholders Eliminated Across the South by 1895

By 1895, the number of Black elected officials in the South has collapsed from the hundreds who served during Reconstruction to a handful clinging to office in isolated counties. Through violence, disenfranchisement, gerrymandering, and the white primary, Black political representation is systematically eliminated. George White of North Carolina, elected to Congress in 1896, will be the last Black congressman from the South until 1973.