Born into slavery in what is now Henderson,North Carolina,Henry attended the first public schools for African American children in Vance county,established by the state legislature in the Reconstruction era.With the financial aid of a white friend,Robert A.Jenkins,Robert attended Shaw University,a historically African American College in Raleigh,North Carolina,Where he graduated in 1883.
He worked briefly as a school principal before being elected as the Register of Deeds for Vance County (1884-1888), which was majority African American and Republician.In this period,the Democratics had regained control of the state legislature,many African Americans continued to be elected to local office,as the state was more than 30% African American.
In 1884,Henry married Louisa (Louise) Cherry,who had been a fellow student at Shaw.She taught music at the school where he had been principal.They had three children: Charles,Mamie,and Henry Plummer Jr.Her sister Cora Lee Cherry married George M.White in 1886,who also became active in politics and was elected as US Congressman after Henry had served.
After Louisa died in 1899,Henry married Laura Joyner.They also had three children:Susie,Richard,and James.
Henry became active in Republican politics.He encouraged the established of institutions for African Americans,such as the Colored Orphan Asylum in Oxford in 1883 and the founding of state normal schools for the training of African Americans Teachers.
In 1888,Henry was narrowly elected to Congress from North Carolina's 2nd Congressional district over Furnifold M.Simmons.(Furnifold would later lead the white supremacy campaigns that resulted in a new state constitution that disfranchised African American citizens.) During the campaign,Henry was reported by North Carolina papers to have allegedly told African American voters that Furnifold and President Grover Cleveland would re-enslave them. Other press outlets of the time dismissed these allegations by the press as hyperbole or having misrepresented Henry's words.
In a period of disfranchisement of African Americans of the South,Henry was one of five African Americans elected to Congress during the Jim Crow era of the nineteenth century.There were two from South Carolina,his brother-in-law George Henry White who followed him from North Carolina,and one from Virginia.After them,no African American would be elected from the South until 1972,after federal civil rights legislation enforcing constitutional rights for citizens.No African American would be elected to Congress from North Carolina until 1992.
Henry,then the only African American North Carolina congressman,supported federal aid to education,and the McKinley Tariff.He also supported the Federal Elections Bill in 1890,introduced by Henry Cabot Lodge,to provide federal enforcement to safeguard the voting rights of African Americans in the South.House Republicans had been concerned about the discriminatory practices of the Democrats and trying to gain passage on this issue as the Southern Democratic voting block became more powerful.
Henry tended mostly to the needs of his constituents (of both races),did not succeed in getting his own bills passed.Henry served on the House committees on Education,Expenditures,on public Buildings and Agriculture,one of the more powerful.
In 1890,Henry defended his seat and defeated the Democrat James M.Mewborne,with 16,943 votes to 15,713.Nationalwide,Democrats re-took the House of Representatives,which meant that measures to protect African American civil rights would not passed.Henry was the only African American congressman in the Fifty-second Congress (he had also been the only African American congressman in the first half of the 51st Congress).
He unsuccessfully sought re-lection toa third term in 1892,after the North Carolina legislature changed the boundaries of his congressional district.Competition from Populist on the ballot split some of the vote,contributing to the victory of Frederick Augustus Woodard,a Democrat.
Henry ran against Frederick again in 1894 without success.In 1896,he completed for the Republican nomination for the district against his brother-in-law,George Henry White,who won as the next (and last) late nineteenthcentury African American congressman from North Carolina.
In 1897,President William McKinley's administration appointed Henry as federal Recorder of Deeds for the District of Columbia,a prestigious and lucrative patronage position which he held through 1901 and the change in administrations.Henry,a friend of and ally of Booker T.Washington,was criticitzed for standing by William,as the Republican administration did little to offset the rising tide of Jim Crow racism and segregation in the South.New state constitutions were passed in the South from 1890-1908 that disfranchised African American citizens for more than half a century,their provisions generally survived US Supreme Court review.If one provision was declared unconstitutional,southern states passed new ones to create new obstacles.
In 1890,Henry defended his seat and defeated the Democrat James M.Mewborne,with 16,943 votes to 15,713.Nationalwide,Democrats re-took the House of Representatives,which meant that measures to protect African American civil rights would not passed.Henry was the only African American congressman in the Fifty-second Congress (he had also been the only African American congressman in the first half of the 51st Congress).
He unsuccessfully sought re-lection toa third term in 1892,after the North Carolina legislature changed the boundaries of his congressional district.Competition from Populist on the ballot split some of the vote,contributing to the victory of Frederick Augustus Woodard,a Democrat.
Henry ran against Frederick again in 1894 without success.In 1896,he completed for the Republican nomination for the district against his brother-in-law,George Henry White,who won as the next (and last) late nineteenthcentury African American congressman from North Carolina.
In 1897,President William McKinley's administration appointed Henry as federal Recorder of Deeds for the District of Columbia,a prestigious and lucrative patronage position which he held through 1901 and the change in administrations.Henry,a friend of and ally of Booker T.Washington,was criticitzed for standing by William,as the Republican administration did little to offset the rising tide of Jim Crow racism and segregation in the South.New state constitutions were passed in the South from 1890-1908 that disfranchised African American citizens for more than half a century,their provisions generally survived US Supreme Court review.If one provision was declared unconstitutional,southern states passed new ones to create new obstacles.
After four years in Washington,D.C.,Henry return to farm in Littleton,North Carolina.
He moved to Oxford when appointed as superintendent of the state Colored Orphan Asylum,which was located there.He served in that position for 28 years.Henry had supported the state legislation to establish the orphanage in 1883,as part of Reconstruction-era programs to provide for the welfare of people.He " was its superintendent and to him more than any man,is due the credit for the remarkable progress and development of the institution.He died in Oxford.
Known as an educated,discreet,and diplomatic man,Henry impressed even the white-supremacist Democrat Josephus Daniels.He said that he regarded Henry highly as a man who had gained the confidence of both races.
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