Hiram R. Revels, American Senator

Hiram R. Revels, American Senator

Hiram Rhodes Revels (September 27, 1827 - January 16, 1901) was the first non-white to serve in the United States Senate. He was ordained a minister in 1845 and helped raise two black Union regiments during the Civil War, and took part at the battle of Vicksburg in Mississippi. During Reconstruction, he was elected alderman in Natchez in 1868, and he was elected to represent Adams County in the Mississippi State Senate in 1869. At the time, the state legislature elected US 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 left vacant since the Civil War. Revels spoke for compromise and moderation. A vigorous advocate of racial equality, Revels tried to reassure Senators about the capability of blacks. His term lasted one year, February 1870 to March 3, 1871. He was then appointed the first president of Alcorn Agricultural and Mechanical College (now Alcorn State University) in Mississippi, where he also taught philosophy. Revels remained active in his ministry and died while attending a church conference in 1901, at the age of 73. Part of the handy Brady Collection, circa 1860-75.

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