Biographies of 24 Colored Men
Who Served in the U. S. Congress

JAMES THOMAS RAPIER

(1837-1883)

Born in Florence, Lauderdale County,
Ala, November 13, 1837; educated in
private schools in Alabama and studied
in Canada. Studied
law and was admit-
ted to the bar;
taught school, re-
turned to the South
and traveled as a
correspondent for a
Northern newspaper
He went to Florence,
Ala., and became a
cotton planter, ap-
pointed notary pub-
lic by the governor
in 1866; member of
the first Republican
convention held in Alabama, was one of
the committee that framed the plat-
form; member of the State Constitu-
tional Convention at Montgomery in
1867. Unsuccessful candidate for secre-
tary of State of Alabama in 1870.

Appointed assessor of internal rev-
enue in 1871, named State commission-
ei to the Vienna Exposition in 1873 by
the governor of his State; also commis-
sioner for the U S. at the World's Fair
in Paris, France, 1878.

Elected as a Republican in 1872 to the
House of Representatives in the Forty-
third Congress and served from March
4, 1873, to March 3, 1875, unsuccessful
candidate for re-election in 1874 to the
Forty-fourth Congress
JEFFERSON FRANKLIN LONG

(1836-1900)

Congressman Long was born near
Knoxville, Crawford County, Ga, March
3, 1836; received a primary education
and became a mer-
chant tailor at Ma-
con. Mr Long was
elected to the Forty-
first Congress to fill
the vacancy created
when the House de-
clared Samuel F.
Gove, white, not en-
titled to his seat

He served from
December 22, 1870,
to March 3, 1871, and
was not a candidate
for re-election. Re-
tiring from the House, he resumed his
occupation as a tailor.

Mr. Long, second colored man elect-
ed and seated in the House, the first
from Georgia, died February 5, 1900.

JOHN MERCER LANGSTON
(1829-1897)

Born in Louisa, Louisa County, Va.,
December 14, 1829, attended the com-
mon schools in Ohio, graduated from
the literary depart-
ment of Oberlin Col-
lege in 1849 and
from the theological
department in 1852.
Studied law in Ely-
ria, Ohio, assisted in
recruiting colored
men in the Fifty-
fourth and Fifty-
fifth Massachusetts
Regiments during
the Civil War.

Appointed inspec-
tor-general of the Bureau of Freedmen,
Refugees, and Abandoned Lands in
1868. Practiced law in Washington,
dean of the law depaitment of Howard
University, 1869-1876, commissioned by
President Grant a member of the board
of health of the District of Columbia in
1871.

Elected president of the Virginia
Normal and Collegiate Institute, Peters-
burg, Va., in 1885. Successfully contest-
ed as a Republican the election of Ed-
ward C. Venable, white, to the Fifty-
first Congress, sen ed from September
23, 1890, to March 3 1891; unsuccess-
ful candidate for re-election in 1890 to
the Fifty-second Congress. Died in
Washington November 15, 1897.

JERE HARALSON

(1846-1916)

Born in Muscogee County, Ga., April
1, 1846. A slave until emancipated in
1865; removed to Alabama; elected a
member of the State
legislature in 1870
and to the Alabama
Senate in 1872. He
was elected as a Re-
publican to the For-
ty-fourth Congress
March 4, 1875 and
served until March
3, 1877, when he re-
signed. Appointed
U. S. custom inspec-
tor in Baltimore in
1879, and served un-
til his resignation in 1882.

He then removed to Louisiana, then
Texas. Later he removed again to Okla-
homa, then Colorado where, in the lat-
ter State, he engaged in coal mining,
and in 1916 was killed by wild beasts

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