"Benjamin Franklin Randolph"(1820-October 16,1868)

Was an African American educator,and an army,chaplain during the Civil War,and a Methodist minister,newspaper editor,politician and state senator in the early part of the Reconstruction Era in South Carolina.He was elected to be one of the first African American Electors in the U.S. at the 1868 Republican National Convention,for the Ulysses Grant Republican presidential ticket.Benjamin also serve as the chair of the state Republican Party Central Committee.He was delegate to the 1868 South Carolina Constitutional Convention,where he played an important role in establishing the first universal public education system in the state,and granting for the first time the right to vote to African American men and non-property owning white men.On October 16,Benjamin was assassinated by members of the KKK.He was born in Kentucky,the child of free African Americans.Benjamin moved with his family to Ohio as a child,where he attended school in Warren County.He enrolled in Oberlin Preparatory & Collegiate in 1854 and matriculated at Oberlin College in 1857,studying in the Classics Department.In 1858,he moved to Buffalo, New York,where he served as the principal of a public school for African American students.In December 1863,Benjamin volunteered to serve in the Civil War for the Union,joining the 26th Regiment Infantry U.S.Colored Troops at Rikers Island,New York serving as chaplain.As the only African American officer in the 26th,he received the Regimental banner from Vincent Colver at the unit's commission on March 27,1864.The unit was deployed to Beaufort South Carolina,in March 1864,and participated in actions at the Battle.