He were watching American History tv. Each week, American History tvs american artifacts explores the history of the United States through objects. Next, we speak to the house of representatives historian and house curator about the history of African Americans who served in congress and see a selection of artifacts from the collection. The story is not one everybody is familiar with. We had 22 africanamericans serve. It has to do with the role of congress during the civil war, and the decade after. During the civil war, there was a group of radicals in congress, radicals because they believed in the equality of africanamericans, and wanted to create a society in the south after the war that was a multiracial society. Thaddeus stevens, the chairman of the ways and means committee. In the Senate People like charles sumner. And they really drove the agenda and pushed the Lincoln Administration not only to prosecute the war more vigorously, but to have reconstruction after a war that was not so lenient toward southern state, not going to ensure that Political Rights were extended to africanamericans. The war ends in 1865. I have you get to be first africanamerican members of congress . It does not happen right that day. It did not happen right that day. After lincoln was assassinated, president johnson takes over and has an even more lenient view than lincoln of how the Southern States are going to be readmitted, and he is pushed constantly by the radical republicans and in a short time, roughly for five years, they pass a series of constitutional amendments and laws that ring about the equality of africanamericans in the south and that starts with the passage of the 13th amendment and that is ratified later that year, banning slavery, outlawing slavery once and for all in the u. S. , but following with major legislation might the Civil Rights Act of 1866, which extended Citizenship Rights to the friedman and constitutional amendments like the 14th amendment. The 15th amendment that guaranteed Voting Rights and also a series of reconstruction acts that divided the south into military districts. And to set up elections and to ensure africanamericans come to the polls under the new amendments and laws passed. Ms. Elliott in the house collection we have a number of images, prints. This is from 1866. This is seen outside the gallery. There was great jubilation. And we have some from the passage of amendments you are talking about, other Civil Rights Acts. And in all of them, people seem really excited and delighted at the progress. So, they are being portrayed in the public eye as Something Wonderful and great and terrific. Then there is a lad of a few years from those things being passed there is a lag of a few years from those things being passed to being able to elect africanamerican members . Mr. Wasniewski what goes in to place our republican reconstruction governments. From the 1860s, you begin to see are an number of africanamerican officeholders move into positions of local authority, either on Town Councils or the state legislatures. They gain a political role in a political voice call and a political voice and a number of the africanamericans who serve in this time, that is how they move through the ranks very quickly and come into positions where they can be a let it to congress. Ms. Elliott who is the first africanamerican in the house . Mr. Wasniewski the first to speak on the floor while the house was in session is a man who was elected, but never seated. He was elected in 1868. His election was contested, and that is the story that runs throughout the 19th century for so many of these africanamerican members who were elected to congress. Their election was challenged in a number of them had that experience. In february 1869, he was allowed to speak on the house floor to defend himself and his contested election case. The house chose not to seek him or his opponent and he never was seated. But he won the election. The first africanamerican elected to the house and seated in the house is Joseph Rainey of South Carolina. Following him another 19 africanamerican members throughout the course of the 19th century. Rainey was not the first africanamerican in congress. That distinction went to hiram rebels of mrs. B, and was it by the of mississippi. He came into congress in early 1870. But when you think about that revolution that occurred within a matter of less than a decade, so rainey had been born into slavery and conscripted into the Confederate Army to dig trenches around charleston where he was from. He escaped to bermuda during the war. Comes back after the war. Sees the political experience and the political role locally and within a decade he is holding the state of a former confederate slaveholder. Revels story was the same. He was born as a free man, never was a slave. He comes into the senate and occupies the seat that had been held by slaveholder less than a decade before. When you think about the great paradoxes of American History, that is one of them. They come to the capitol and represent africanamerican constituencies and they are doing it after the seats have been given up during secession by slaveholders. Ms. Elliott i have read about it, and we have a print there are five of them right here. They include hiram, you were just talking about, and Joseph Rainey right here three other members of congress, two in the house, one in the senate. That is the complete africanamerican representation in the senate until well into the 20th century. They are being presented, which was taken from a book from the former speaker of the house, very much in the same vein as every other member of congress and dates was. Most of these were taken from the garret types the garret type pictures from Matthew Bradys studio. You cannot swing a cat without finding a 19th entry photograph from bradys studio sitting in the chair. What is interesting to me, there is the sense that these people are members of congress. The civil war is the av of American History. It seems like it was a huge pivot, as shown by this kind of representation of them. Mr. Wasniewski four africanamericans and historians, reconstruction is the second American Revolution in which a little goal rights and which Political Rights had been excluded for so long. Their careers in the house and senate really embody the experiences of the africanamericans who served during this time. Their service was, to a great degree, largely symbolic service. Revels only served for a short time in the senate. He goes on as beginning he goes on a speaking tour and is presented as the 15th amendment in flesh and blood. Rainey, too, was a symbol for africanamericans. These were men who not only represented their small districts or the states, but they represented africanamericans nationally. They were a source of pride. That is reflected in the material culture. Rainey served for eight years in the house. He is the longest serving africanamerican in the 19th century. He is the first africanamerican to preside over the house while it is in session. That happens in 1874. His experience though is typical of a lot of these other individuals to come to the house in relatively small numbers the high point for the number of African Americans is the 43rd congress, mid1870s. Theres only six or seven africanamericans in congress at that point. They are really too small of a group to drive any legislative agenda. And where they do contribute to legislation is to come out and speak on behalf of of their constituents and their Political Rights and the abuse of those Political Rights and the reconstruction era south. They tend to give very eloquent speeches about some of the major bills like the 1875 Civil Rights Act, which again is a piece of legislation not many people think about today. What that bill in 1875 has done is essentially the same as the 1974 bill did it would grant the quality and public accommodations and travel and also schools. A lot of these africanamericans from the south South Carolina, mississippi, alabama got up and spoke on behalf of this bill. Particularly the education provision, which would have provided an equal playing field. That provision, sadly, was stripped out of the bill at the very end of the congress. This was a bill that had been championed by charles sumner, the senator from massachusetts and supported by the chairman of the Judiciary Committee in the house, but a lot of these men gave very moving testimonials about that legislation. Ms. Elliott i had a question about another object we have in the collection. Revels and rainey as the first are the ones i think about. But there are these other 19 folk and one of them is robert brown elliott, right here. This is from Frank Leslies illustrated newspaper where a lot of the 19th century stuff we have in the house collection that tells us about what is going on in the house and what the publics reading about it, what they are seeing, this is one of the rare ones in which there is an africanamerican member given a sort of little portrait there on the pages next to any number of other things going on. This is the news of the day. Tell me about robert elliott. Mr. Wasniewski elliott is one of the interesting members. He is from South Carolina. A majority of the africanamerican members come from South Carolina, largely because it was a majority africanamerican population, and their districts are africanamerican. So there is support for a black candidate. Elliott is a wonderful orator, and he is one of those people who events himself invent himself as he went along. You get the sense he was a true character. He had a great classical education. He came up after reconstruction worked on a newspaper. Then he becomes a member of the state assembly. He comes into the house for two terms, and he is one of the men who comes up to the floor and talks about the importance of passing the 1875 civil rights bill and give some speeches that are picked up in the northern press. And they just swoon over him. One of the speeches, he actually, it is a pointcounterpoint debate with alexander stevens, the former confederate Vice President , who by that point had come back to the house. And elliott just blows him out of the water. He is so respected and such an ally of senator charles sumner, that when sumner passes, shortly before his bill moves through the house and senate, elliott goes and delivers a eulogy at faneuil hall in boston, which is widely picked up in the northern rest. He leaves the house made congress and his second term and goes back to South Carolina because he cares so much about state politics and sees how things are trending at the and of reconstruction, sees a lot of abuses, and he becomes the speaker of the South Carolina state assembly for a brief period and later goes on to serve, at the very tail end of reconstruction, as the attorney general for South Carolina. Afterwards though, his story typifies so many of these members. Here youve got a guy who is a great speaker, got a law background, sets up a lot practice, but he gets almost no business. Hes forced to move out of state. That is sadly the story of so many of these 19thcentury individuals who leave congress and with the onset of jim crow, their careers just dry up. That speaks to the larger kind of political ramification, what that meant for the end of blackbirds black political participation. Ms. Elliott i wanted to point out, what is interesting as a curator and art historian, the way that jim crow is promulgated in the press, you get no business because of racism and jim crow and also it reinforced in the popular press. So, as we move into the jim crow period, the press and the public, the way the public sees africanamerican slaves presented to them really changes and moves much more toward the caricature we are familiar with from the very beginning of the 20s century. By 1829, we have this, also showing then yet of what is going on in the capitol, instead of the picture with civil war veterans and interesting women and africanamerican children and adults celebrating out side as citizens who are excited about a new venture and the passage of a civil rights bill, here we are seeing lots of Different Things going on. The very style of this becomes more like a cartoon and in particular i want to draw your attention to this circular area here where they are showing africanamericans in the visitors gallery, called the gentlemans gallery. That is the name of the gallery of the house of the time dripping with sarcasm. It is showing almost entirely africanamericans in there and in the accompanying essay, it points out what it wants to point out about this image that it is showing africanamericans in the gallery, but not engaged in the process, not interested in what is going on on the floor. It is showing them is reading or sleeping or using it simply to as a place to hang out. That is what the accompanying essay says as well. This is a shift in the National News coverage of africanamerican civic life, and it goes pretty quickly. This is 20 years difference, from seeing this which was all over in the papers at the time, to the 1880s where it is entirely a caricature of africanamerican participation in the world of public affairs. The turning point was at the end of reconstruction, right . Mr. Wasniewski yes, the turning point was the end of formal reconstruction, military forces occupy the south and had kept the reconstruction government plays to that is i am place. That is rolled back in 1877 as part of the disputed election of 1876. That election gets thrown to congress to decide, and what happens is the house and the senate are controlled by different Political Parties and cannot come to an agreement. So they create a special Electoral Commission composed of five senators, five representatives, five Supreme Court justices. In the results, there were three Southern States that had disputed returns, so what shows up is to different groups, one for children, one phrase. The commission comes back and finds in favor of hayes, awarding him those votes. But as part of a political negotiation struck to make him president , the Southern States manage they managed to push the end of reconstruction formally. You see over really a decade, decade and a half, a process where africanamericans are gradually excluded from the political process in the south. It is a combination of state laws and local laws that go in the books. Such as poll taxes. But by the 1890s, africanamericans are largely no longer part of the political process. And that plays out in congress because you see the numbers really drop off in the 1880s. We only have five africanamericans who are serving in congress at various points and usually its just one or two. Still some prominent individuals. Langston from virginia, a very prominent africanamerican, even before the civil war. He was one of the first blacks elected to Political Office in a town council. He had a political reputation. After the war he served as a minister to haiti. In the late 1880s, he is elected to a virginia seat and comes into the house, but he is another africanamerican who faces a contested election. And by the time he only gets a seven or eight months term. This is really the story of a lot of these men who had roadblocks thrown up everything from poll taxes that affected constituents to violence at the polls. Now the union army presence, the federal presence had in rolled back. The very last individual who serves is George Henry White of North Carolina. Represented a coastal district in North Carolina that had elected africanamericans before. He is the last africanamerican to serve for really three decades. He forcefully pushed for two things while he was a member. One was antilynching legislation, which no one had really championed before and he pushes for that. It goes nowhere. It languishes in the Judiciary Committee and never really is debated, but he is out there talking on the floor. The other thing he wanted was because there were so many blacks being denied Political Rights in the south, he wanted to reduce the participation of Southern States based on the number that were being disenfranchised. There were no africanamericans to champion this. In 1901, white leaves congress. He faces some very tough reelection stash a lot of violence, a lot of fraud. He leaves the house. When he does, he gives a speech in february of 1901, which is tremendously moving, because he knows he is the last africanamerican in congress for a while. He says, someday the africanamericans in congress will rise again and come back. That takes three decades. Ms. Elliott what i want to show you really one of the saddest parts this is one of the saddest artifacts and the house collection, i think. Its a pretty recent acquisition of hours. This is a 1907 prints that was made it is the colored men who have served in the congress of the United States. It is really a testament to the persistence of hopes in the African American community. So, george white has been gone for six years. Its going to be another two decades before africanamericans will return to congress. This was done as a memento. In fact, the way it is done is a very popular method its almost like a scrapbook or a photo album. Some of these images are tilted a little bit, artfully placed in a scrapbook. It really is. A scrapbook is a book of memories. And in some ways, that is a memory of the past and a promise to the future. He had an appointment to the Government Printing office and all of that had vanished. All of the positions opened up that he is been apart often of the gone away. The newspaper had collapsed. Those things have evaporated. This is one of the last things that we know that he did, really attempting to put a marker down that this wont be forgotten, that will come back as george white said. We have in the center hiram revels. There are a large number of africanamericans who served in the house. There is Joseph Rainey again. It takes is all the way around to all of them who were there. I find this so poignant. When this was printed, no one knew how long would it be . Did they think it was going to be a very long time . Did they think it would just be a moment. You can see it seems terribly damaged and had a hard life. Indeed, it has. Someone pasted it probably on a wall. Underneath that print is and on top is wallpaper. It was pasted on someones wall in recognition of those things that happened. Printed in d. C. We acquired it in thd. C. It may have never left the city. Madam secretary, we proudly give 72hour delegate votes to the next president of the United States. [cheers and applause] American History tv was live yesterday from the Smithsonian National museum of American History for an allday conference of african American History. The theme was the future of the African American past. Historians and other scholars talk about