 james thomas heflin (april 9, 1869 &ndash; april 22, 1951), nicknamed "cotton tom," was a leading proponent of white supremacy who served as a democratic congressman and united states senator from alabama. ==biography== ===pre-congressionnal career=== born in louina, alabama, he attended the agriculture and mechanical college of alabama (now auburn university). he never graduated but independently read law and was admitted to the bar in 1893, practicing law in lafayette, alabama. heflin first rose to political prominence as a delegate who helped to draft the 1901 alabama state constitution. heflin argued, successfully, for completely excluding black alabamians from voting, stating that he truly believed that "god almighty intended the negro to be the servant of the white man." as secretary of state in 1903, heflin was an outspoken supporter of men put on trial for enslaving african american laborers through fraudulent convict leasing. as detailed in douglas a. blackmon's book, slavery by another name, these practices were a brutal, post-emancipation form of slavery in which african americans were often illegally convicted of crimes and then sold to farmers or industrialists. heflin explicitly used white supremacist rhetoric to mobilize support for the defendants. he argued before a group of confederate veterans that forcing african americans to labor was a means to hold them in their proper social position.douglas blackmon, slavery by another name, 2008, p. 122, 222, 225, 232. ===house years=== in 1904, heflin was elected to the united states house of representatives as a democrat to fill the vacancy left by the death of charles winston thompson. four years later, while a member of the house, he shot and seriously wounded a black man who confronted him on a washington streetcar. alt
1869_births 1951_deaths Alabama_Democrats Alabama_Independents Anti-Catholicism_in_the_United_States Critics_of_Catholicism Democratic_Party_United_States_Senators Democratic_Party_members_of_the_United_States_House_of_Representatives History_of_racism_in_the_United_States Members_of_the_United_States_House_of_Representatives_from_Alabama People_from_Randolph_County,_Alabama Secretaries_of_State_of_Alabama United_States_Senators_from_Alabama