born Sept. 1, 1822, Fayetteville, N.C., U.S.
died Jan. 16, 1901, Aberdeen, Miss.
U.S. clergyman and politician.
The son of free blacks, he traveled to Indiana and Illinois to receive the education that was denied him in the South. Ordained a minister, he became a pastor and principal of a Baltimore school for African Americans. In the American Civil War he helped organize African American volunteer regiments for the Union army. After the war he moved to Natchez, Miss., and was elected state senator in 1869. In 1870 he was elected to the U.S. Senate to fill the unexpired term of Jefferson Davis , becoming the first African American elected to that body. He later served as president of Alcorn A&M College (1871–74, 1876–83).