Four Views of Blanche Bruce, the Slave Who Became a U.S. Senator

Last edited Mon Feb 16, 2015, 03:18 PM - Edit history (1)

from the Who2 blog: http://www.who2.com/blog/2012/03/four-views-of-blanche-bruce-the-slave-who-became-a-us-senator




These beautiful shots of Senator Blanche Bruce are in from the U.S. Library of Congress . . .

The photos were taken by portrait pioneer Mathew Brady sometime between 1865 and 1880. Bruce looks substantial and relaxed -- as relaxed as anyone ever looked being photographed in those early days.



Blanche Bruce was the first African-American ever to serve a full term in the U.S. Senate. (The absolute first African-American senator was Hiram Revels, who served a fill-in term in 1870-71.)

Bruce was born into slavery in Virginia in 1841 -- the son of a white plantation owner and a black slave -- and later was taken to Mississippi and Missouri by his owner. After the Civil War he got involved in politics in Mississippi, which can't have been easy. Bruce was a Republican, back when Republicans were the liberals of the day. As a senator, Blanche Bruce "worked devotedly to gain rights for African Americans," according to Senate historians.

He served one term from 1875-81. The shocking thing is that in the year 2012, still only six African-Americans have ever served in the U.S. Senate. One of them was President Barack Obama.




read: http://www.who2.com/blog/2012/03/four-views-of-blanche-bruce-the-slave-who-became-a-us-senator

full biography

Blanche Kelso Bruce, the son of a black slave and a white plantation owner, was the first African-American to serve a full term in the U.S. Senate. Bruce was born into slavery in Virginia, but escaped at the start of the Civil War and made his way to Ohio, where he attended Oberlin College. After the Civil War he moved to Mississippi and got involved in local politics. In 1874, during the post-war Reconstruction Era, Bruce was elected by the Mississippi legislature to become one of the state's two U.S. senators. (While serving, Bruce became the first African American to preside over the Senate, on February 14, 1879.) When his term ended in 1881, Bruce was appointed by President James Garfield to the office of Register of the Treasury. As such, Bruce was the first African-American to be represented on U.S. currency. Bruce also served as the recorder of deeds for Washington, D.C., and again as the Register of the Treasury, where he served until his death in 1898.