"Joseph-Hayne Rainey" [June 21,1832-August 1,1887)

Born into slavery was the first African American to serve in the U.S.House of Representatives,the first African American to preside over the House,and the longest serving African American during the tumultuous Reconstruction period.While Joseph's representation-like that of the other 21 African American Representatives of the era-was symbolic,he also demonstrated the political nuance of a seasoned,substantive Representative,balancing his defense of  southern African Americans' civil rights by extending amnestry to the defeated Confederates."I tell you that the Negro will never rest until he gets his rights," he said to the House Floor." "We ask [for civil rights] because we know it is proper," Joseph added,not because we want to deprive any other class of the rights and immunities they enjoy,but because they are granted to us by the law of the land."


He was born to Grace & Edward L.Rainey in Georgetown,South Carolina,a seaside town consisting of mainly rice plantations.The Raineys raised at least one other child,Edward Jr,Grace was of French descent.Edward was a barber,and his master permitted him to work independently if he shared some of his profits,as required by law.Edward used his earnings to buy his family's freedom in the early 1840s,and in 1846 the family moved to Charleston, South Carolina,where Edward became a barber at the exclusive Mills House Hotel.As giving official instruction to African American children was illegal.Joseph receive limited education and his daddy taught him the barber's trade.By the 1850s,Edward could afford to buy two male slaves for his family.In 1859,Joseph traveled to Philadelphia,where he met and married his wife,Susan,also a half-French mulatto,originally from the West Indies.Joseph continued to work as a barber,and the couple had three children: Joseph II,Herbert & Olivia.


The Confederate Army called Joseph to service when the Civil War broke out in 1861.At first,he dug trenches to fortify the outskirts of Charleston.He later worked as a cook and a steward aboard a blockade runner,a Confederate ship charged with carrying tradable goods through the Union Navy's blockade of the South.In 1862,he and his wife escaped to Bermunda.The self-governed British colony had abolished slavery in 1834,and proved a hospitable home for the Raineys,who took advantage of the thriving economy and growing population that resulated from the lucrative blockade-running business.The Raineys lived in St.George and Hamilton,Bermunda,where Joseph set up a successful barbershop and Susan opened a dress store.The Raineys were informed about the progress of the Civil War by passing sailors and,after the Union victory,returned to Charleston in 1866.


The wealth Joseph acquired in Bermunda elevated his status in the community,and looked upon as a leader,he soon became active in the Republican Party.In 1867,Joseph returned to Georgetown,South Carolina,and became the Republican county chairman.When a state constitutional convention was called in 1868,Joseph traveled to Charleston to represent Georgetown.In 1869,he also attended a state labor commission and served as Georgetown's census taker.In the late 1860s,he worked as an agent for the state land commission and was brigadier general in the state militia.Joseph was elected to his first public office in 1870 when he won a seat in the state senate,where he immediately became chairman of the finance committee.


In February 1870,Representative Benjamin Franklin Whittemore resigned by northeastern South Carolina seat,having been charged with selling appointments to U.S. military academies.The Republican Party nominated Joseph for the remainder of Benjamin's term in the 41st Congress (1869-1871) and for term in the 42nd Congress (1871-1873).On October 19,1870,Joseph was sworn in on December 12,1870,as he was joined by the second African American member,Representative Jrfferson Long of Georgia.Joseph's moderate policies were met with approval by both African-American and white votes,and he was elected without opposition to the 43rd Congress (1873-1875).
Joseph advocated for his constituents-both African American & White.He used his growing political clout to influence the South Carolina state lrgislature to retain the customs duty on rice,the chief export of the district and the state.He also submitted a petition to improve Charleston Harbor and fought against an appropriations cut for Fort Moultrie and Fort Sumter in Charleston.Joseph's committee appointments and policies reflected his desire to defend African American civil rights,and his loyalty to the Republican Party.He receive seats on three standing commitees:Freemen's Affairs (41st -43rd Congresses),Indian Affairs (43rd Congress),and Invalid Pensions (44th-45th Congresses,1875-1879).He also served on several select committees,including the select Committee on the Centennial Celebration and the Proposed National Census of 1875 (44th Congress) and the Committee on the Freedmen's Bank (44th Congress).


Joseph's work on the Committee on Freedmen's Affairs-created in 1865 to handle all legislation concerning newly freed slaves-earned him the most recognition.On April 1,1871,he delivered his first major speech arguing for the use of federal troops to protect southern African Americans from the recently organized Ku Klux Klan.Enumerating the dangers of returning home to South Carolina on Congressional breaks,exposing himself  to violence by the Red Shirts-a virulent South Carolina white suprememacist organization-Joseph said,"When myself and my colleagues shall leave these halls and turn our footsteps toward our southern homes,we know not that the assassin may wait our coming,as marked for his vengeance.The Ku Klux Klan Act was signed into law by President Ulysses S.Grant on April 20,1871,the bill failed to stop terrorism.After his speech Joseph received a letter written in red ink instructing him and other advocates of African American civil rights to "prepare to meet your God." White southerns virtually ignored the Ku Klux Klan Act,and congressional opponents circumvented its provisions by eliminating funding.In March of 1872,Joseph himself arguing for the federal appropriations needed to enforce the act.


Joseph also advocated Radical Republican Senator Charles Summer's Civil Rights Bill of 1875,which outlawed racial discrimination on juries,in schools,on transportation,and in public accommodiations.Charles believed a law passed in 1872 granting amnestry to former Confederates should be conditioned by the passage of his civil rights bill.Joseph favored the Amnestry Act,which allowed former Confederates to regain their political rights,he agreed with Charles because of personal experience with discrimination in both Washington & South Carolina,ranging from exorbitant charges for drinks at a pub,to more serious violations of his civil rights.Joseph also described widespread segregation on public transportation,including trains and streetcars.Speaking for his African American constituents,he declared,"We are earnest in our support of the Government.We were earnest in the house of the nation's perils and dangers;and now,in our country's comparative peace and tranquility,we are earnest for our rights.


Joseph focused on the Bill's provision for desegregation in public schools,an issue that bedeviled race relations for more than a century,Breaking from fellow Republicans,he was among the minority favoring a $1 poll tax to support public education.Other Republicans successfully argued this would disfranchise most freed slaves.Nonetheless,he continued to advocate education.The Civil Rights Bill passed the House on February 5,1875,which with the Senate quickly concurring,its diluted provisions failed to address desegregation or equality in public schools.


Joseph's fight against discrimination was limited to prejudice against African Americans.Appointed to the Committee on Indian Affairs,he made history in April 1874 when he took the chair from speaker James S.Blaine,becoming the first African American to preside over the house of Representatives.Joseph oversaw the debate on an appropriations bill providing for the management of Indian reservations.Joseph also generally opposed legislation restricting the influx of Asian immigrants to the United States.


Throughout his career,Joseph involved himself in the economic issues that affected his race.Established  by Congress in 1865,the Freemen's Savings and Trust Company (Freemen's Bank) was envisioned as means to help newly emancipated African Americans build capital through secure savings.Two-thirds of the bank's holding were originally invested in United States treasury bonds.In 1870,an amendment to the bank's charter allowing half its deposits to be invested in real estate bonds came to the floor.Recognizing the instability of such an investment,Joseph opposed the amendment and stood behind congressional control over the institution"I am opposed to any one man holding assets of that bank,having them wholly at his disposal,i do not care who he is,whether he be colored or white,whether he be German or an Irishman it makes no difference to me.I want no one man to handle the assets of the bank.His position on the Select Committee on the Freedmen's Bank gave him a voice,he and his colleagues were unable to prevent the bank's failure in 1874.


After an easy re-election in 1872,Joseph's subsequent campaigns were made vulnerable by the growning threat to Congressional Reconstruction in the South.In 1874 he faced Independent Samuel Lee,another African American and a former speaker of the state house of representatives,in a dangerous and close campaign.When Joseph planned to travel to a meeting in Bennettssville ,South Carolina,friends warned him that Samuel's supporters were planning a violent intervention.Accompained by a large posse of friends and met by U.S. soldiers upon his arrival,Joseph arrive safely and the meeting was peaceful.He won the election,taking 14,360 votes (52 percent) to Samuel's 13,563,Samuel demanded that the House Committee on Elections void some of Joseph's votes due to a spelling error in Joseph's name on some ballots.The committee upheld Joseph's election with the whole House concurring in May 1876.That same year Joseph defeated Democrat John S.Richardson for a seat in the 45th Congress,again winning tight campaign with 52 percent of the vote (18,180 to John's 16,661).John later accused Joseph and the Republican Party of voter intimidation.Noting the presence of  federal troops during the election,John also claimed that armed African American political clubs and African American militia were scaring voters at the polls.John election had been certified by Democratic South Carolina Governor Wade Hampton,and Joseph maintained that only the South Carolina secretary of state could certify elections.Joseph took his seat,in May 1878 the Committee on elections declared the seat vacant,citing irregularies.The House failed to act on the committee report,and Joseph kept his seat for the remainder of his term.
Joseph's final two terms were wracked by setbacks for African Americans civil rights in South Carolina and the final blow that virtually ended federal Reconstruction in the South.On the American centennial on July 4,1876,African American militia celebrated by parading through a street in Hamburg,South Carolina.When a group of white men attempted to cross the street,the African American soldiers refused to stop.The white subsequently fired upon and killed several militiamen.Debate over the incident became bitter on the House Floor during Joseph's final term in the 45th Congress.Joseph condemmed the murders and exchanged coarse remarks with Democratic Representative Samuel Cox of of New York,who believed the "Hamburg massacre' resulted from poor government by African American South Carolina leaders.Bolstered by renewed Democratic control in South Carolina,John S.Richardson defeated Joseph in the 1878 election for the 46th Congress (1879-1881) by more than 8,000 votes.Joseph retired from the House on March 3,1879.
Upon his departure from Congress,Joseph promised that Republicans would nominated him as Clerk of the House of Representatives;Democratic control over the 46 Congress precluded Joseph's selection as Clerk.When Republicans regained control of  Congress in 1881,Joseph Spent time in Washington trying to secure the appointment,but he lost the nomination,In 1879,he was appointed a special agent of the U.S. Treasury Department in South Carolina.After being endorsed by 84 Representatives,including future President James A.Garfield of Ohio,Joseph served two years.In 1881,he started a brokage and banking business in Washington,the firm collapsed after five years before returning to Georgetown in in ill health.He and Susan opened a millinery shop shortly before Joseph died of congestive heaver.