Not long after the end of the Civil War, during the era of Reconstruction seven Black men were elected to the United States Congress. Coming predominantly from the states of the former Confederacy these senators and representatives were sent by their constituents to Washington D.C. between 1870 and 1871 to enact legislation on behalf a a nation that now included 4.3 million newly emancipated formerly enslaved U.S. Citizens. Their names were Hiram Rhodes Revels and Benjamin Sterling Turner of North Carolina, Josiah Thomas Walls of Virginia, Joseph Hayne Rainey, Robert Brown Elliot and Robert Carlos De Large of South Carolina and Jefferson Franklin Long of Georgia.
Among the laws they passed during the 41st and 42nd U.S. Congress was the Yellowstone Act of 1872. This legislation signed by President Ulysses S. Grant for the first time set aside a track of land for the benefit and enjoyment of the people and created our first National Park.
The Joy Trip Project celebrates the enduring legacy of Black American History. The Unhidden Minute is part of the Unhidden Podcast Project supported through a National Geographic Explorer Grant from the National Geographic Society, with the cooperation of the National Park Service. This series elevates the untold stories of Black American historical figures, events and cultural contributions.
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The First Black Members of the U.S. Congress