November 3: African American Elected to Congress

On 3 November 1868, John Willis Menard was the first African American elected to the House of Representatives. However, he would be denied the opportunity to serve in congress.

Menard had won the special election to fill the term of Congressman James Mann who had died while in office. Although he had won with 65% of the vote, Menard’s opponent, Caleb S. Hunt, contested the election. As part of the investigation of Hunt’s complaint, on 27 February 1869, Menard was the first African American to address the House of Representatives.

During the house debate, neither Menard nor Hunt was able to gain the votes to be seated. Representative and future president James Garfield is reputed to have said that the country was not ready for a Negro representative.

Joseph Hayne Rainey, a former slave, was the first African American to actually serve as a member of the House of Representatives when he was seated on 12 December 1870. He was re-elected to the seat four times. Hiram Rhodes Revels was the first African American to serve in congress when he was appointed to the Senate in 1870. The first African American to be elected to the Senate and serve a full term was Blanche Kelso Bruce. Like Rainey, Bruce was a former slave.

Despite direct advertising to sildenafil online canada consumers on television, it can only be prescribed by a doctor. The drug increased oxygen uptake, reduced pressure in the arteries, and gradually, it fills the place in the body, especially the tubes that go to the male reproductive organ, heart, brain and http://appalachianmagazine.com/2016/12/27/1930s-winter-fashion-statement-the-snow-cone-mask/ purchase viagra legs. There are no special symptoms of prostate calculi varies greatly, and the tadalafil 20mg from india number varies from one to hundreds. Hence it is extremely vital that you opt for viagra for sale any type of medication intended for treating erectile dysfunction or ED. The first African American to serve as President of the United States was Barack Hussein Obama. Obama was elected as the 44^th president in November 2008. He was inaugurated on 20 January 2009.

–Steven L. Berg, PhD

Editorial Note: In addition to this memorable moment, I was able to use my research to update the the entry for John Willis Menard in Wikipedia.

Although Today in History is primarily student written, there are some days when we do not have a student author. You will enjoy another student entry tomorrow.

Posted on November 3, 2013 by stevenlberg
Categories: American History: Early, American History: Modern, American History: Nineteenth Century
Tags: African Americans, politics, United States

7 Responses

Haley Hilt says:

14 November 2012 at 5:06 pm

Seeing how far African Americans have come in this country truly is amazing. As I read this post, John Willis Menard really stood out to me. He was the first African American to address the House of Representative about the 15th amendment. The 15th amendment is talking about the right to vote and not be denied voting by race, color, or previous condition of servitude. This was all taking place do to the Reconstruction of America after the Civil War. John Willis Menard made an impact during this time period to announce his run for a seat in the House, but not just that he made his voice heard.

John Willis Menard may have been one of the first African American voices heard, but since him there have been many African Americans that have done outstanding roles in our country. Colin Powell is a man most of the United States recognizes. Powell has held many positions in the government. He has stood beside a few of our presidents and achieved great things. Our society has come very far from slavery and we still are moving in a great direction. African Americans have help shape our society and they have a great history to prove their strengths.

Haley Hilt

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Garrett Domke says:

26 November 2012 at 4:26 pm

John Willis Menard was a real American hero and above all odds percivered to become the first African American to be elected to the house of representatives. Menard was born in southern Illinois and may of been related to a French Canadian fur trader named Michel Branamour Menard who also was the founder of Galveston, Texas. During the Civil War he worked under President Abraham Lincoln and in 1863 he was sent to British Honduras to investigate a propsective colony for the newly freed slaves. After addressing the entire house The vote for Hunt was 41 in favor to 137 against. For Menard, it was 57 in favor and 130 against meaning neither Hunt nor Menard could gain any votes. Menard moved to Jacksonville Florida and later died in 1893 in the District Of Columbia, he was 55 years old.

Menard was an inspirational leader and although he was not actually the first African American to have a seat in the house of representatives he can still be held as one of the people who changed history.Overall 123 African Americans have held a seat in congress and most notable African Americans who held important seats in the United States government are Joseph Rainey, Benjamin Turner, John Lynch, and George Murray just to name a few and all of these were former slaves. Currently their are 45 African Americans in the house of representatives and none in the senate. In 2008 Barrack Obama changed history again making him the first African American President in US history, and later in 2012 after serving 4 years in the oval office he won re-election to server 4 more years.

-Garrett Domke

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Jalen Walker says:

2 December 2012 at 3:24 pm

John Willis Menard is a very inspirational African American male. He was such a man of many talents. During the Civil War, he worked as a clerk in the Department of Interior. As Haley stated he was the first African American to address the House of Representatives about the 15th Amendment.In bringing up this Amendment he opened up doors for different races and people.
John Willis Menard started and fought for something that made our living circumstances today bearable. He has paved the way for a lot of the inspirational African American leaders. Obama reminds me of a modern day Menard because Menard and Obama are looking to change America! Menard wanted everyone to have the equal right to vote, he wanted all people to be equal. Obama wants everybody to have the same health care. Even though my correlation may see a little deranged and awkward, but it seems like they have the same exact motives when it comes making America a better more equal place!
– Jalen Walker

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Ahmad Jawad says:

6 December 2012 at 5:49 pm

John Willis Menard is another hero in the fight of racism and oppression of minorities. What African-Americans have encountered is against the American way and is truly astonishing to see how far they have come. But Menard is someone that can be a prominent figure and looked at as someone that beat the odds. He not only won election to the House of Representatives and enjoyed self accomplishment but also made a step in the destruction of a racist monster.

Things like this occur still today, where the first of some ethnicity or race is first at a certain occupation. In the city of Dearborn, Michigan the first Arab-American was voted as judge. This practicing lawyer had ran before for judge and lost. This year was the year though that all the lawyers worked paid off, his ultimate dream of becoming elected judge.

-Ahmad Jawad

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Jalynn Neely says:

7 December 2012 at 4:40 pm

People can look up to this man as well! Even though Obmama is the first black president, John Wills Menard was first African Amercian to be elected into the U.S House of Representatives. He worked as a clerk for President Abraham Lincoln and also John was an republican and took James Mann a Democrated who had passed awy while he was still in office. John also helped out with Salavry as well.

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Daniel Rathburn says:

8 December 2012 at 7:19 pm

While Menard was elected the first African-American man to congress over one hundred years ago, the United States elected the first Muslim member of Congress just six years ago, in 2006. Keith Ellison, who was born in Detroit in 1963, was elected as one of the eight U.S Representatives for Minnesota. Ellison was also the first African-American representative elected in Minnesota. After Menard wasn’t able to keep his position in Congress, it was thought to be “too early for an African-American in Congress.” Ellison and the case of a Muslim in Congress, proved different from Menard when Ellison was re-elected in 2010. While America saw its first African-American president in 2008 with Barack Obama, the U.S has yet to see a Muslim president, contrary to the belief of the one of six Americans whom believe President Obama is a Muslim.

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Julianne Ayers says:

9 December 2012 at 10:09 pm

Since John Willis Menard may have been the first African American to have his voice heard through congress, he had made way for many others to have their voices heard. Being the first African American elected to the U.S. Congress even though elected, he was not seated. His various news publications throughout the course of his life also advocated for African American rights. One person that truly comes to mind of the Modern Era influenced by Menard is the Late Mrs. Shirley Chisholm.

In 1964, Chisholm ran for and was elected to the New York State Legislature. In 1968, she ran as the Democratic candidate for New York’s 12th District congressional seat and was elected to the House of Representatives. Chisholm became the first black woman elected to Congress. Chisholm joined the Congressional Black Caucus in 1971 as a founding member. Throughout her time in Congress, Shirley Chisholm worked to improve the opportunities for the people of the inner-city. She was a voiced opponent of the draft and was a supporter of increasing spending for education, health care and other necessary purposes and for the reduction of military spending. So, Menard’s monumental accomplishments have paved the way for other African American Men such as Colin Powell and others before him and later for African American Women like Shirley Chisholm and others before and after her.

– Julianne Ayers

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