(1867) Rev. E. J. Adams, These are Revolutionary Times

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1 (1867) Rev. E. J. Adams, These are Revolutionary Times In March 1867, as Congress passed the first Reconstruction Acts, African Americans gathered in mass meetings throughout the South to support Congress s action and to plan their own agenda. One of the earliest of these meetings took place in Charleston, South Carolina on March 19, At the conclusion of the meeting Rev. E. J. Adams, a leader of the Charleston black community gave the address below. When our war first broke out, it was the idea even of the Republican party, and even of the most radical of that party, that slavery should be confined to where it then existed; that it should have no further advancement, or be introduced into any of the territories shortly to become states. But the overruling hand of Providence, whose ways are in the whirlwind, brought good out of the wind, and today we can say, as Joseph said to his brethren, "As for you, ye meant evil unto me, but God meant it unto good to bring to pass that which has this day saved much people alive.

2 (1867) Rev. E. J. Adams, These are Revolutionary Times (cont.) Some are opposed to universal suffrage on the ground that a black man is not capable of exercising that right with judgment. But let me tell you that all men may be led instinctively to do that which is right, or choose the wrong. Those men who are led instinctively to support the liberty of the country in the time of war by placing the ballot box in their hands, will also be led to support the right in the time and hour of peace. Universal suffrage is the only reward that can be given for the long years of slavery and disfranchisement of the now colored citizens of the United States. Universal suffrage is compatible with the genius of our Republic. This could not be a republic in every sense of the word unless universal suffrage is accorded to all men alike. The meaning of republicanism is that all men alike have the right to enjoy the privilege of the ballot box. I do not, however, wish to be understood that I advocate or wish for social equality. God forbid that. For some of my mean white drunken enemies may sneak into my house and marry my daughter.

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9 Founded in 1790, the Brown Fellowship Society is the oldest all-male Funeral Society in Charleston, South Carolina. It also provides a major historical example of how racism affected the African American community itself, in that lighter skinned African Americans in the Society considered themselves superior to darker skinned African Americans. Although still considered inferior by the white population, South Carolina's mulattos, octoroons (a person with oneeighth black ancestry), and quadroons (a person with one-quarter black ancestry), were often given their freedom while darker-skinned individuals remained in slavery.

10 Robert Carlos De Large ( ) was a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from South Carolina. He was born in Aiken, South Carolina on March 15, He received such an education as was then attainable and was graduated from Wood High School, after which he became a farmer. He was a delegate to the South Carolina constitutional convention in 1868, and then a member of the South Carolina House of Representatives from 1868 until In 1870 he was elected State land commissioner, where he served until his election to the House of Representatives later that year. He was also one of the commissioners of the State's sinking fund. De Large served in the House of Representatives from March 4, 1871 until January 24, 1873 when the seat was declared vacant as the result of an election challenge initiated by Christopher C. Bowen. After leaving Congress he served as a local magistrate until his death in Charleston on February 14, He is buried in Brown Fellowship Graveyard.

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13 Number of Black Elected Federal and State Legislators Who Served Terms During the Reconstruction Period, by State: 1869 to 1901

14 A Black legislature in the South during Reconstruction. NYPL

15 Radical members of the first legislature after the war. South Carolina.

16 BLACKS IN THE SOUTH CAROLINA LEGISLATURE DURING RECONSTRUCTION - 2 3/8" x 4" card with photographs of 63 members of the Legislature of South Carolina during the period of Reconstruction --50 blacks and 13 whites. Some of the more notable figures include Joseph Hayne Rainey, the first black seated in the U.S. House of Representatives (1870), and William Whipper who helped found the first African American law firm.

17 Benjamin A. Boseman, a black carpetbagger from Troy, N.Y., served as a surgeon to the 54 th Massachusetts Colored Infantry in the Civil War. He has received his medical training at the Medical School at Bowdoin College. He went on to serve as a member of the South Carolina House of Representatives, and Postmaster of the State. In his later years, he served as one of the first two black trustees of the University of South Carolina.

18 REPUBLICAN PARTY COURTS BLACK VOTERS IN In a question-andanswer format, this rare 4-page campaign pamphlet urges freedmen to vote for Gen. Grant for President. It explains that the Republican Party emancipated "the colored man" and is "in favor of universal freedom." "Elect them and your rights are ensured."

19 RECONSTRUCTION ERA (c ) - AFRICAN AMERICANS VOTE FOR THE FIRST TIME! In March 1867, Congress passed the Reconstruction Acts that divided the Southern states into five military districts, each with a commander tasked to oversee new state constitutions that allowed for enfranchisement of all adult males. The above sketch from Harper's Weekly shows the "REGISTRATION OF COLORED VOTERS" in Richmond, Va.

20 Group portrait of African American legislators: Robert C. De Large (SC), Jefferson H. Long (GA), H.R. Revels (MI), Benj. S. Turner (AL), Josiah T. Walls (FL), Joseph H. Rainy (SC), and R. Brown Elliot (SC)

21 Full-length portrait of Oscar J. Dunn, Lieut. Governor of Louisiana, seated at desk, and twenty-nine head-andshoulders portraits of African American delegates to the Louisiana Constitutional Convention

22 Blanche K. Bruce and Hiram Revels alongside Frederick Douglass

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