Tennessee's Astonishing 19th Century African American Legislators

Few people know that, between 1872 and 1897, fourteen African American men, most of them former slaves, were elected to the Tennessee General Assembly. Five of them were lawyers, one representing Ida B. Wells in her famous lawsuit against a railroad company, another taking a landmark case to the U.S. Supreme Court. One put himself through college (Fisk University) by teaching in the summertime in a schoolhouse he built with his own hands. Three others earned prestigious Peabody Scholarships to attend college in Nashville (two at Fisk, and one at Roger Williams University, where he later taught); two others studied at Oberlin College in Ohio.
One of these individuals was nominated to be Speaker of the Tennessee House of Representatives, receiving 32 of the 93 votes cast. Several served as city councilors or court magistrates in Memphis, Chattanooga, and Nashville. One had already served as a state representative in North Carolina before moving to Tennessee. By any standards, these were remarkable men.
But their successes were short-lived. Although elected to a second legislative term, David F. Rivers never served it -- racial violence in his home county forced him to give up his election in order to ensure the safety of his family. Samuel A. McElwee had to flee attacking night riders and saw his election stolen from him when many votes were changed; he never returned to his home. When Styles L. Hutchins' law office was set on fire, he left the state forever. Most of the former legislators found themselves living in reduced circumstances or having to leave Tennessee in order to practice their professions. Rivers became the pastor of a large church in Washington, D.C., serving until his death in 1941; McElwee and Hutchins both moved to Illinois in order to be able to practice law in safety. Many others moved to other states, as well. One former legislator ended his life as an elevator operator; several were never heard from again.
After Reconstruction, the infamous Jim Crow laws systematically stripped black voters of their rights, until African Americans had virtually no political power. It was not until the Voting Rights Act of 1965 – 100 years after the end of the Civil War – that state-sanctioned voter discrimination officially came to an end. After the end of the 45th General Assembly in March of 1887, Tennessee would not seat another African American in its legislature until 1965.

If you want to learn more about these fourteen remarkable legislators and their work in the Tennessee General Assembly, visit the TSLA exhibit: "This Honorable Body: African American Legislators in 19th Century Tennessee" online at
http://www.state.tn.us/tsla/exhibits/blackhistory/index.htm