5 Days
Born: August 11, 1842 in Liverpool, England
Died: August 09, 1884 in New Orleans, Louisiana
United States Representative, 1871–1874
Republican from South Carolina
Twice elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, Robert Brown Elliott is best known
as a militant defender of equal rights for Black people and his reputation as an eloquent
orator and charismatic leader.
Elliott’s early life is a bit of a mystery, what is known for certain is that by March 1867
Elliott was associate editor of the South Carolina Leader, a Black-owned Republican
newspaper in Charleston. As a leader of the Republican Party and a state official in South
Carolina, he fought discrimination against Blacks in the courts, voting practices, schools,
and public accommodations, and sought federal aid for schools.
Source: https://www.nypl.org/events/exhibitions/galleries/robert-brown-elliott