Movement1870
First African American Senator Seated
Hiram Rhodes Revels of Mississippi was sworn in as the first African American member of the United States Senate. A minister and educator who had served as a chaplain for Union troops during the Civil War, Revels filled the Senate seat once held by Jefferson Davis.
Why It Matters
Revels's seating demonstrated the transformative promise of Reconstruction and the 15th Amendment, proving that African Americans could serve at the highest levels of government when barriers to participation were removed.