Show NEGROES IN CONGRESS S For First Tinie Time in in Two Thirty-Two Years S No Colored Man Sits Sits Sits' in Either Chamber For th the first time In two thirty years vears except for a brief period between 1887 and 1889 no colored man sits in either chamber chamber cham cham- ber her of Congress and there Is less prospects prospects prospects pros pros- of the ele election Uon of a a colored manto man manto manto to this body than at any time since the close of the war That With education and culture his political l fortunes will wm be advanced ed c fin doubted Hampton and and Tuskegee a are te doing a great work and the future statesman will be bethe bethe bethe the equal In Int intellect and culture perhaps perhaps perhaps per per- haps of hi his white brother This was was not true of many of those colored men who have been honored with seats In Congress Congress Con Oon gress but It is true that a they recognized f their f g own l i limitations i fo and worked rl patiently patiently pa pa- and unceasingly for Improvement The lirt colored man elected to Congress Congress Congress Con Con- gress was J J. J Willis Menard of Louisiana Lo He was wed born horn In Illinois educated at Iberia college hud had acted as hospital st steward steward stew stew- ward w- w ard and recruiting officer for the government government government gov gov- during the war WillI and was sent w whatever on h a special ci l. l mission Is ho he to Honduras lo l Inh In w whatever h ho he r office served he won the confidence of his superiors He had gr great at Influence c over his own people and i r du i c le ene wa was noted as a public I speaker No negro S was ever worthier of a seat in Congress but Menard was never all allowed to serve in tile the office to which he had been chosen being ing barred ban out by bv alleged Irregularities in his election electIonS His failure however and nd the criticism It evoked pa paved ed the way for the e entrance o of the bla black blackman k man i into public life and on n February r 25 1570 1170 after one of ot the most exciting de debates debates debates de- de bates In the history of Congress when Charles Sumner acted as th the champion of tho the negro was admitted to the theS Senate S to fill till the seat eat made vacant by the resignation of Jefferson Davis Two Iivo other negroes served in the FortY Forty-firt first Congress Congress Joaeph Joseph H. H Rainey and Jefferson Jefferson Jefferson Jeffer Jeffer- son F F. Long There were four negro Representatives in the Forty second FOrty second Congress which number was Increased to seven in the Forty Forty third The fhe Fort fourth Fort fourth Congress was known as the black Congress Blanche K Bruce represented Mississippi sippi 11 P al in the 1 Senate and n seven men of his race served v Jn in the he lower ieno House 8 Of these the most mOISt conspicuous was Robert R-obert Smalls of South Carolina the famous Wo J pilot who headed d the party that conducted con con- ducted the Planter out of Charleston barbor harbor har bar bor for which service he was handsomely rewarded by the government and appointed appointed ap ap- ap- ap pointed pilot for the rest of the war With the fourth Forty Congress the number of colored men in the House and aud Senate began to decrease In the next Congress only four tour colored members rs were re re- re turned Senator Bruce was the only man manof manof manof of his race In the sixth Forty-sixth Congress Smalls and Lynch represented their race In the seventh Forty sv t Congress e In n the two succeeding Congresses g there ert was only one colored man James E E. O O'Hare Hare of ot North Carolina who was defeated for forry the Fiftieth I Congress n and since ince then ry t e f ng only five negroes re have served d m In Congress John it M M. Langston of ot Virginia Thomas E E. Miller Stiller of South Carolina Henry P P. Cheatham of North Carolina George W W. Murray of South Carolina and George H H. White of North Carolina New New York Tribune |