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1789. The Constitution of the United States recognizes that the states have the power to set voting requirements. A few states allowed free Black men to vote, and New Jersey also included unmarried and widowed women who owned property. [1] Generally, states limited this right to property-owning or tax-paying White males (about 6% of the ...
After Congress passed the First Military Reconstruction Act of 1867 and ratified the Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1870, African Americans began to be elected or appointed to national, state, county and local offices throughout the United States. [1] Four of the five office holders served in a New England state.
Revels was the first black member of the Congress overall. [11] Black people were a majority of the population in many congressional districts across the South. In 1870, Joseph Rainey of South Carolina was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, becoming the first directly elected black member of Congress to be seated. [12]
Nevertheless, many African Americans served in its legislature and Mississippi was the only state that elected African American candidates to the U.S. Senate during the Reconstruction era; a total of 37 African Americans served in the Senate and 117 served in the House. [59] [60]
A Republican, Brooke was the first black senator to serve two terms in the Senate, holding office until 1979. [5] From 1979 to 1993, there were no black members of the United States Senate. Between 1993 and 2010, three black members of the Illinois Democratic Party would hold Illinois's Class 3 Senate seat at different times.
The Right Rev. Samuel Provost, Episcopal Bishop of New York, was elected as the very first Senate chaplain in 1789. Today the nonsectarian, nonpartisan Office of the Chaplain is headed by Barry C ...
Party Division in the Senate, 1789-Present, via Senate.gov; The New York Civil List compiled in 1858 (see: pg. 113 for State Senators 1788–89; pg. 114 for State Senators 1789–90; page 164 for Members of Assembly 1788–89; pg. 165 for Members of Assembly 1789–90) The Documentary History of the First Federal Elections, 1788-1790.
A combination of civil rights legislative wins, commitments to diverse representation, and opposition to racism led many Black voters to abandon the Republican Party for Democrats at key points in ...