Hiram Revels
Hiram Rhodes Revels
1827-1901
Despite the era, Hiram Revels was was born free in Fayetteville, North Carolina. Hiram’s father was a baptist preacher. After graduating from Knox College in Illinois, Revels too pursued the gospel. He was ordained in the African Method Episcopal (AME) church and led congregations in the Midwest, East Coast, and the South.
When the Civil War began, Revels helped recruit Black regiments in Maryland. After Black soldiers were permitted to fight in 1862, Revels served as the chaplain for a Black regiment in Mississippi. One year later, Revels returned to St. Louis, where he established a freedmen’s school. Revels served in churches throughout the South before settling his family in Natchez, Mississippi, in 1866.
Revels work establishing a freedman school kickstarted his political career, with his first elected position being a Natchez alderman in 1868. Revels had support from the Black community familiar with his religious work and won over white voters with his ‘moderate and compassionate political opinions.’ When a Mississippi U.S. Senate vacancy opened, Black Republicans demanded that one of their own be selected to fill the vacancy.
Debate broke out in the U.S. Senate over whether Revels was qualified to serve. Senators raised objections to the length of his citizenship, claiming he did not meet the minimum nine year standard (alleging the Dredd Scott decision was only four years prior). This was dismissed with consideration of Hiram’s Ohio voting record and after a stirring speech from Massachusetts senator Charles Sumner, who reminded the gallery, “All men are created equal, says the great Declaration, and now a great act attests to this verity. Today we make the Declaration a reality.” The Senate voted resoundingly 48-8 to seat Revels. Revels took the oath of office on February 25, 1870.
