Hcram R. Revels (Mississippi), 1870-1871: The first black U.S. senator; in 1852, as pastor at the St. Paul AME Church in St. Louis, he defied the law by allowing slaves to worship in his church and starting a school to teach black children to read and write.
Blanche K. Bruce (Mississippi), 1875-1881: A former slave, he was educated at Oberlin College and was a tax assessor and sheriff before becoming the first black man to serve a full six-year term in the U.S. Senate.
Robert Smalls (South Carolina), 1875-1879 and 1881-1887: Born a slave, he fought in the Confederate army as a seaman, and was commended for his heroic act of delivering his ship to the Union army. After his term in Congress, President Benjamin Harrison appointed him collector of the port of Beaufort, South Carolina, his birthplace.
Joseph H. Rainey (South Carolina), 1870-1879
Jefferson F. Long (Georgia), 1870 , 1871
Benjamin S. Turner (Alabama), 1871-1873
Robert C. DeLarge (South Carolina), 1871-1873
Robert B. Elliott (South Carolina), 1871-1875
Josiah T. Walls (Florida),1871-1877 Richard H. Cain (South Carolina), 1873-1875 and 1877-1879 Alonzo J. Ransier (South Carolina), 1873-1875
James T. Rapier (Alabama), 1873-1875
John R. Lynch (Mississippi), 1873-1877, 1882-1883
Jeremiah Haralson (Alabama), 1875-1877
John A. Hyman (North Carolina), 1875-1877
Charles E. Nash (Louisiana), 1875-1877
