Monday, December 12, 2022
Joseph H. Rainey, from South Carolina, took his seat on Dec. 12, 1870, becoming the first African-American to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives. On April 1, 1871, he gave his first major speech, arguing for the use of federal troops to protect African Americans from the Ku Klux Klan.
- Read one of Rainey’s most famous speeches in Blackpast.org