Hiram Rhodes Revels was the first African-American to serve in the U.S. Senate and House of Congress. Hiram was born September 27 1822 and died January 16 1901. He served in Mississippi during the Reconstruction of the Civil War in 1870 and 1871. In 2002 Hiram was named among with 99 others in a distingished award to 100 of the greatest African Americans, and as of 2009, is still one of only six African Americans to serve in the U.S. Senate.Hiram Revels was born a free black in Fayetteville, North Carolina, from father of white and black ancestry, and a white motherwho was Scottish. His early schooling was by a tutor. In 1838 he went to live with his brother, Elias Revels, in North Carolina, and was apprenticed as a barber in his brother's shop. Elias died in 1841, and his wife gave everything to Hiram before being remarried.Hiram studied at a black seminary in Ohio. He was ordained a minister in 1845. Preaching in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, Hiram went to Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Tennessee, Missouri, Kansas, and Maryland in the 1850s. Hiram was once arrest in Missouri for teaching to negroes but was never harmed by any violence.As a chaplain, Hiram helped raise two black Union regiments during the Civil War in Maryland and Missouri, and joined in at the battle of Vicksburg in Mississippi.Years later in 1870, Hiram presented an opening prayer in the state legislature. (quoted from John Lynch) "That prayer—one of the most impressive and eloquent prayers that had ever been delivered in the Senate Chamber—made Revels a United States Senator. He made a profound impression upon all who heard him. It impressed those who heard it that Revels was not only a man of great natural ability but that he was also a man of superior attainments."At that time, the state legislature elected its senators. Revels was elected by a vote of 81 to 15 in the Mississippi State Senate to finish the term of one of the state's two seats in the US Senate. The Hirams election was a cause of much opposition from Southern Democrats.They argued that "no black man was a citizen before the 14th Amendment was ratified in 1868."Because election to the Senate required nine years citizenship, opponents of Revels said he could not be seated being a citizen by law for only two years. Supporters of Revels countered by saying that "The Dred Scott decision applied only to those blacks who were of pure African blood. Revels was of mixed black and white ancestry, and therefore exempt, they said, and had been a citizen all his life." Revels finally won, and on February 25, 1870, Revels, by a vote of 48 to 8, became the first black man to be seated in the United States Senate.Hiram was an advocate of racial equality,and tried to reassure Senators about the capability of blacks.He served on the Committee on Education and Labor and the Committee on the District of Columbia. A lot of the Senate's attention focused on Reconstruction. Radical Republicans called for punishment of ex-Confederates. Revels called for a restoration of full citizenship for those who swore an oath of loyalty to the United States.For years Hiram worked to help racial equality grow. He voted against segregated bills, peacefully protested with others, and did what he could to help unite all races.I think that Hiram Rhodes Revels should be given a bigger honor than what he has been given, which I believe is nothing. He broke many barriers and triumphed over the segregation in very hostile and unstable times. I think that Hiram should be recognized more becuase up until now, I had absolutely no idea who the man was.
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