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Hiram
R. Revels biography
SYNOPSIS
Hiram R. Revels (b. September 27, 1827) became the first African American to serve in the United States
office, Revels attended seminary and became a Christian minister, preaching throughout the Midwest and
elected as Senator of Mississippi in 1863. In his later years, he was appointed as the first president of the A
and Mechanical College.
PROFILE
(born Sept. 1, 1822, Fayetteville, N.C., U.S.—died Jan. 16, 1901, Aberdeen, Miss.) American clergyman a
became the first black citizen to be elected to the U.S. Senate (1870–71), during Reconstruction.
Born of free parents, young Revels traveled to Indiana and Illinois to receive the education that was denied
He was ordained a minister in the African Methodist Episcopal Church in 1845 and eventually settled in B
QUICK FACTS
NAME: Hiram R. Revels
he served as a church pastor and principal of a school for blacks. Soon after the Civil War began (1861), h
two volunteer regiments of blacks for service in the Union Army. Two years later he joined the Federal for
OCCUPATION: Academic, U.S. Representative,
Minister
chaplain to a black regiment stationed in Mississippi.
BIRTH DATE: September 01, 1822
After the war Revels settled in Natchez, Miss., to preach to a large congregation. Despite some misgivings
DEATH DATE: January 16, 1901
politics, he accepted appointment by the military governor as alderman (1868) and was later (1869) electe
PLACE OF BIRTH: Fayetteville, North Carolina
Although Revels was a Republican, he was anxious not to encourage race friction with white Southerners;
PLACE OF DEATH: Aberdeen, Nevada
supported legislation that would have restored the power to vote and to hold office to disenfranchised mem
Confederacy. In January 1870 he was elected to the U.S. Senate to fill the unexpired term of the former Co
BEST KNOWN FOR
Hiram R. Revels was the first African
American to serve in the United States
Senate.
Jefferson Davis. He performed competently in office, advocating desegregation in the schools and on the r
On leaving the Senate, Revels became president of Alcorn Agricultural and Mechanical College, a recentl
of higher education for blacks, near Lorman, Miss. In 1874, however, he was dismissed from the college p
helped overturn the Republican (Carpetbag) government of Mississippi, defending his action on the groun
politicians in that party were corrupt. He was rewarded by the Democratic administration, which returned
at Alcorn in 1876, where he remained until his retirement.
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