WASHINGTON – Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) joined Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and 68 of their colleagues in introducing a resolution honoring former U.S. Senator Hiram Rhodes Revels. This week marks 150 years since Revels was sworn-in as a U.S. senator from Mississippi. He was the first African American to serve in Congress.
“We should never forget our nation’s history, including those who built the foundation of the continued progress we make today. On the 150th anniversary of Hiram Revels being sworn into the U.S. Senate, I stand with my colleagues to recognize both his service and the doors he opened through his leadership in Congress and stewardship in his community,”
Grassley said.
“Hiram Revels was a trailblazer for African Americans not only in Mississippi, but throughout our country. 150 years after his swearing in as the first African American senator, I’m proud to join my colleagues to commemorate the life and service of such an important figure in our nation’s history,”
Ernst said.
“Hiram Revels was an extraordinary Mississippian and American whose legacy extends far beyond breaking the color barrier in Congress. He used his platform to fight for equality and reconciliation in a nation divided by race and the Civil War. The broad bipartisan support for this resolution demonstrates the deep respect and appreciation Americans still have for Hiram Revels’s service,”
Wicker said.
Revels represented Mississippi in the U.S. Senate from February 25, 1870, until March 3, 1871. He served as the first president of Alcorn Agricultural and Mechanical College in Claiborne County, today’s Alcorn State University. He later taught theology at Shaw University, now known as Rust College. Revels died in 1901 and is buried in Holly Springs, Mississippi.
Full text of the resolution can be found
HERE.
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