Hiram Rhodes Revels

Hiram Rhodes Revels was born free on 9/27/1822 in Fayetteville, NC to a free half black and half white father and a white mother.

In 1838, Revels was taught by his brother to become a barber in Lincolnton, North Carolina. He left the barber shop to further his education.

Revels attended the Union County Quaker Seminary in Indiana in 1844 and finished in Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois.

Revels became a minister in 1845 by the African Methodist Episcopal Church. As a minister, Revels helped raise two black union groups during the Civil War in Maryland and Missouri.

In 1866 he was given his own ministry in Natchez, Mississippi where he setteled down with his wife, Phoebe A. Bass Revels, and their 5 daughters and founded schools for black children.

In 1870, Revels was elected to the United States Senate as the 1st African American member. His term was from february 1870-March 1871. After his senate term, he was named president of Alcorn College in Mississippi which was the states first college for African American students. He retired from Alcorn in 1882.

Revels died on January 16, 1901 in Aberdeen, Mississippi while attending a church conference.

As of 2009, Revels is one of only six African Americans to have ever served in the United States Senate.

By: Cody M.