5 Days
Born: September 27, 1827 in Fayetteville, North Carolina
Died: January 16, 1901 in Aberdeen, Mississippi
United States Senator, 1870–1871
Republican from Mississippi
In 1870 Hiram Rhodes Revels became the first African American to serve in the U.S. Congress and the first African American U.S. Senator. Revels is believed to be of African and Native American ancestry and was born to parents who were free in Fayetteville, North Carolina, where he received basic education. To advance his education, Revels moved North to Indiana, Ohio and Illinois where he trained as a minister and educator.
Revels attended the Beech Grove Quaker Seminary in Liberty, Indiana, and the Darke County Seminary for black students, in Ohio. In 1845, Revels was ordained in the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church. His first pastorate was likely in Richmond, Indiana, where he was elected an elder to the AME Indiana Conference in 1849.
Sources: https://www.nypl.org/events/exhibitions/galleries/hiram-rhodes-revels https://www.revelsfamily.org/about