Hiram Revel Research Paper

Hiram Revels was born on September 27, 1827 in Fayetteville, NC. Unlike the majority of African Americans in the south, Hiram was born to free parents. His father worked as a Baptist preacher and his mother was of Scottish descent. Because of his Scottage background he was believed to be mixed with African and Croatan Indian lineage. In a time when teaching African Americans was illegal, Revels had an opportunity to attend a school taught by a black women. His older brother Elias Revels owned a barbershop, which he inherited upon his sibling’s death. Two years later he left to continue his education and to obtain a job.
In 1844, Revels transferred out from North Carolina. He moved to retrieve the education that was denied to him in the south. He attended the Beech Grove Quaker Seminary in Indiana and the Darke County Seminary for black students in Ohio. In 1845, Revels became a minister in the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME) operating as an itinerant preacher teaching the basic Christian message. He traveled to educate other African Americans and in 1849 he was elected as an elder in the AME church.

Although he had no previous government experience, he worked to get support to win an election. In 1870, he was chosen to fill in a vacant seat in the United States senate. He served in the Mississippi State Senate and made himself the first African American United States senator. Many claimed that Revels was not eligible to take that seat. They had no desire whatsoever to see an African American man serve in Congress. They would point out that he had not been a U.S citizen for at least 9 years like it was required to for all senators. Their argument was useless for Revels was preferred and had the most votes. He managed to perform competently in office, advocating desegregation in the schools and on the