The United States' first two Black U.S. senators both came from Mississippi. Now, 146 years after their departure from Washington, Scott Colom will become Mississippi's third ever African American U.S. senator.
Before Colom came Sens. Hiram Revels − serving from Feb. 23, 1870, to March 3, 1871 − and Blanche Bruce, who served from March 4, 1875, to March 3, 1881. Both Revels and Bruce held office during the Reconstruction era in the aftermath of the Civil War.
Revels was the first African American U.S. senator and had been a member of the Mississippi state Senate when the state sought readmission into the Union. The legislature had to vote on who would fill their U.S. Senate seat, which had been vacant since the previous senator's withdrawal and the state's
secession. They decided on Revels.
“An opportunity of electing a Republican to the United States Senate, to fill an unexpired term occurred, and the colored members after consulting together on the subject, agreed to give their influence and votes for one of their own race for that position, as it would in their judgement be a weakening blow against color line prejudice," Revels later recalled, according to a profile on the U.S. Senate website.
Though Revel's time in the U.S. Senate was less than two years, he saw himself as a representative of African American interests. Only weeks into his stint in Congress, he rose in the Senate chamber to deliver his maiden speech, which advocated against an amendment in Georgia's readmission bill that could prevent Black Americans from holding state office.
Bruce became Mississippi's – and the country's – second African American to serve in the Senate during Reconstruction. Besides the two Mississippi senators, 15 other African Americans served in Congress during Reconstruction, but they all served in the House of Representatives.
Bruce, who was born enslaved in Virginia, escaped slavery at the start of the Civil War and eventually became the first African American to preside over the Senate.
Bruce died in 1898, and Revels died in 1901.
More than eight decades after Bruce left office, the nation saw its third Black senator, when Massachusetts Sen. Edward Brooke III assumed office in 1967.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Scott Colom to be Mississippi's first Black senator since Reconstruction
