First Colored Senator and Representatives
Medium
Classification
Department
Smithsonian Collection
Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Credit
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
Accession Number
NPG.80.195
Tags
About this artwork
As Reconstruction transformed the political landscape of the postwar South, African American legislators began representing many former Confederate states in Congress by the early 1870s. This popular commemorative print celebrates the seven Black men—all Republicans—who served in the 41st and 42nd Congress of the United States (1869–71 and 1871–73).
Art Historical Context
In the turbulent era of Reconstruction following the Civil War, Currier & Ives Lithography Company produced *First Colored Senator and Representatives* in 1872. This hand-colored lithographic print commemorates a historic milestone: the seven Black Republican men who served in the 41st and 42nd U.S. Congresses (1869–1873). Featuring portraits of figures like Senator Hiram Rhoades Revels of Mississippi (a pastor), Jefferson Franklin Long of Georgia (a civil rights activist), Joseph Harvey Rainey, Josiah T. Walls, R. Brown Elliot (a magistrate), Robert Carlos De Large and Benjamin Sterling Turne...