The Jennings daily record. [volume] (Jennings, La.) 1900-1903, 1902-03-17
NEGRO LAWMAKERS.
OOLoRED MEN WHO HAVE HELD
SEATS IN CONGRESS.
Tho First One Took the Scat Made
Vacant by the Resignation of Senator
Davis-Only White Men Now Par
ticipate in the Deliberat lions.

For the first time in thirty-two
years, except for a brief period be-
tween 1887 and 1889, no colored man
sits in either chamber Of congress,
and there is less prospect of the cleo
ton of a colored man to this body
than at any time since the close of
the civil war. That with education
and culture his political fortunes will
be advanced cannot be doubted.
Hampton and Tuskegee are doing
great work, and the future negro
statesman will be the equal in intel
lect and culture, perhaps, of his white
brother. This was not true Of many
OF those colored men who have been
honored with seats in congress, but it
is true that they recognized their own
limitations and worked patiently and
increasingly for Improvement. says the
New York Tribune. The first colored
man elected to congress was ]. Willis
Menard of Louisiana. He was born
in Illinois, educated at Iberia college,
had acted as hospital steward and re-
cruiting officer for the government
during the war, and was sent on
special mission to Honduras. In what
ever office he served he won the conf
dence of his superiors. He had great
influence over his own people and was
noted as a public speaker. No negro
was ever worthier of a seat in con-
gress, but Menard was never allowed
to serve in the office to which he had
been chosen, being barred out by al
legged irregularities in mis- election. HIS
failure however, and the criticism 1t
evoked paved the way for the entrance
of the black nan into public life, and
on February rs, 1870. after one OF the
most exciting debates in the history
of congress. when Charles Sumner
acted as the champion of the negro.
Revells was admitted to the senate to
fill the seat made vacant by the reslg-
nation Of jefferson Davis. Two other
negroes served in the forty-tirst con-
gress-Joseph H. Rainey and Jefferson
F. Long.
There were fol.C negro representa-
tives in the forty-second congress,
which number was increased to seven
in the forty-third. The forty-fourth
congress was known as the "black
congress" Blanche X. Bruce repre-
sented Mississippi in the senate and
! seven men of his race served In the
lower house. OF these the most con-
spicuous was Robert Smalls of South
| Carolina, the famous pilot who head
| ed the party that conducted the Plant
err out of Charleston harbor, for which
| service he was handsomely rewarded
by the government and appointed pilot
for the rest of the war. With the
| fifty-fourth congress the number OF
colored men in the house and senate
| began to decrease. In the next con-
gress only four colored members were
returned Senator Bruce was the only
man of his race in the forty-sixth
congress. Smalls and Lynch repre-
sented their race in the forty-seventh
| congress. In the two succeeding con-
crosses there was only one colored
| man, James E. O'Hare of North Caro-
lima. who was defeated for the fiftieth
| congress, and since then only five
negroes have served in congress-John
NJ. Langston Of Virginia, Thomas E.
| Miller of South Carolina, Henry +.
Cheatham of North Carolina, George
w. Murray of South. Carolina and
George H. White of North Carolina.