Benjamin F . Randolph Benjamin Franklin Randolph ( 1820 – October 16 , 1868 ) was an African American educator , an army chaplain during the Civil War , and a Methodist minister , newspaper editor , politician , and state senator in the early part of the Reconstruction Era in South Carolina . Randolph was selected to be one of the first African American Electors in the United States at the 1868 Republican National Convention , for the Ulysses Grant Republican presidential ticket . Randolph also served as the chair of the state Republican Party Central Committee . He was a delegate to the 1868 South Carolina Constitutional Convention , where he played an important role in establishing the first universal public education system in the state , and in granting for the first time the right to vote to black men and non - property owning white men . On October 16 , 1868 , Randolph was assassinated by members of the KKK . Early life . Benjamin Franklin Randolph was born in Kentucky in 1820 , the child of free African Americans . He moved with his family to Ohio as a child , where he attended school in Warren County , OH . He enrolled in Oberlin Preparatory & Collegiate in 1854 and matriculated at Oberlin College in 1857 , studying in the Classics Department . In 1858 , he moved to Buffalo , NY , where he served as the principal of a public school for black students . Civil war service . In December 1863 , Randolph volunteered to serve in Civil War for the Union , joining the 26th Regiment Infantry U . S . Colored Troops at Rikers Island , New York , serving as its chaplain . As the only African American officer in the 26th , he received the Regimental banner from Vincent Colyer at the unit ' s commissioning ceremony on March 27 , 1864 . The unit was deployed to Beaufort , South Carolina , in March 1864 , and participated in actions at the Battle of John ' s Island in the first week of July , sustaining 97 casualties . The unit also fought at the Battle of Honey Hill , and the Battle of Tulifinny . As Chaplain , Randolph ' s duties included writing letters for members of the regiment and assisting the regimental hospital attendant , Noah Elliott , with care of the sick and wounded . The regiment was mustered out in South Carolina in August 1865 . Reconstruction . After his unit disbanded , Randolph chose to remain in South Carolina during Reconstruction . He attended the Colored People ' s Convention in Charleston in 1865 . , subsequently joining the Freedman ' s Bureau , serving as assistant superintendent for education in Charleston . In seeking a position with the Bureau , Randolph had written : I am desirous of obtaining a position among the freedmen where my qualifications and experience will admit of the most usefulness . I don ' t ask position or money . But I ask a place where I can be most useful to my race . My learning and long experience as a teacher North , and my faithful service as Chaplain demand that I seek such a place . If you should obtain for me some responsible position in the Freedmen ' s Bureau . . . you would never regret it . - - B . F . Randolph As assistant superintendent , he established schools for freedmen on various plantations around Charleston and secured teachers for them . Randolph also toured established schools throughout the state to review their operations and ensure they were adequately staffed and supplied . Schools visited included those in Columbia , Camden , Darlington , Cheraw , and Marion , SC . in February 1867 , Randolph started the Charleston Advocate , a weekly newspaper for freedmen , co - founding it with Rev . E . J . Adams , and serving as its co - editor . In March 1867 , Randolph petitioned to and was accepted on a provisional basis by the South Carolina Mission Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church as a minister of their church . Randolph had trained as a minister in the Presbyterian Church in Ohio ( Old School , Northern ) , but believed that he could more effectively serve freedmen in South Carolina under the auspices of the M . E . church ' s Mission Conference . In late 1867 Randolph was elected as a delegate to the State Constitutional Convention of 1868 under the Reconstruction Laws set by the U . S . Congress . At the Convention , he wrote the article that authorized the first system of free public education in the state . He also authored language granting for the first time the right to vote to landless men , both black and white . Prior to 1868 , landless white men were disfranchised . He also successfully introduced an “ equal protection clause ” , regardless of race , consistent with the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution , which South Carolina would ratify the following year . Subsequent to the Convention , Randolph ran for the Orangeburg seat in the State Senate and was elected to a 4 - year term . He was also selected by the Republican membership as Chair of the Republican Central Committee for the state , was a delegate to the 1868 Republican National Convention which nominated Ulysses S . Grant for President , and was one of the nation ' s first African American Electors . Assassination . As state senator and Republican committee officer , Randolph traveled throughout the state to campaign on behalf of both state and national candidates . In October 1868 he conducted a train tour to the upcountry region of South Carolina on behalf of the national Republican ticket ( Randolph was still in the beginning of his 4 - year term as state senator and was not standing for re - election ) . He gave a campaign speech in Abbeville , SC , on October 15 . The next day he took a train for Anderson . While changing trains at Hodges ' Depot in Hodges , SC , Randolph was gunned down on the station platform by three white men . The attack occurred in broad daylight , with many witnesses , and the assailants mounted their horses and rode away without pursuit . The county coroner ' s inquest found that no attacker could be identified . Randolph was buried in Columbia , SC , because it was felt that feelings ran too high in Charleston . A subsequent investigation by the state authorities resulted in a warrant being issued in Columbia for the arrest of D . Wyatt Aiken . A former Confederate colonel and prominent planter who lived nearby in Cokesbury , Aiken had publicly issued threats against Randolph ' s life which had been reported by the federal military authority in the region . Aiken was arrested by state constables on November 9 , 1868 , and briefly detained on suspicion as an accessory before the fact , but was released on $ 5 , 000 bail on November 12 , and was never brought to trial . Aiken subsequently wrote an open letter to the state Governor , published in the " Charleston Daily News " on November 19 , 1868 , disputing the authority of the state Constable to arrest him and claiming that he was feloniously incarcerated in Columbia for two days . On December 23 , 1868 , state constables arrested Fletcher Hodges of Hodges Station as an accessory to the murder of Randolph . He was also subsequently released and never brought to trial . There were again protests in the press that the state Constable lacked jurisdiction in Abbeville County . In 1870 , Congress conducted a series of hearings with respect to the political situation in South Carolina under Reconstruction . Included in the committee report was the testimony of a man who came forward and confessed to involvement in the assassination , and who testified that he belonged to a group whose goal was to “ kill out the leaders of the republican party and drive them out of the state . ” The committee taking testimony identified this group as the Ku Klux Klan The witness identified Col . Aiken as a leader in the community but did not tie him directly to the assassination , although his testimony did implicate Fletcher Hodges . The witness , listed in Congressional records as William Tolbert , had surrendered himself to a state constable and was held in the state penitentiary . Subsequent to his testimony , he disappeared from the jail , was declared to have escaped , and was shot by a constable on December . 3 , 1869 , near Greenwood , SC , a few miles from Hodges Station . No one was ever brought to trial for Randolph ' s murder . Legacy . The 1868 Constitution that Randolph helped create was replaced in 1895 by a Constitution that greatly reduced voting and legal rights for African Americans . Nonetheless , several innovations introduced by Randolph were retained , in particular free public education and the franchise for landless men , as well as the “ equal protection of the law ” clause . Benjamin Randolph ' s body was re - buried in 1871 at a cemetery in Columbia , SC , which was established in his honor and named for him . Eight other Reconstruction - era African American legislators would be buried in Randolph Cemetery , as well as bishops , attorneys , and Columbia ' s first black postmaster . In 1995 , Randolph Cemetery was listed on the National Register of Historic Places . In 2008 , the 140th anniversary of the 1868 Constitutional Convention to which Randolph was a delegate , the 117th Session of the South Carolina General Assembly declared February 2 , 2008 , as “ Senator Benjamin Franklin Randolph Day ” in conjunction with the unveiling of a historic marker at Randolph Cemetery in his honor .