Portrait of Joseph Rainey. Creation: 1860-1875. Photographer: Rice. Collection: Cartes de visite. Photographs and Prints Division, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.
Joseph H. Rainey
Transcript below
Joseph H. Rainey: 1832-1887.
Born into slavery in 1832, Georgetown, South Carolina, purchased freedom with the father's help. Moved with parents to Charleston and worked as a barber. Married in 1859, with three children moved to Bermuda in 1862 after being forced by the confederate army to dig trenches and cook at the beginning of the Civil War. Returned to Charleston at the end of the war with wealth accumulated in Bermuda, and became active in politics. Elected to Congress as a Republican, served from 1870 to 1879. First Black man to preside over the House, became the longest-serving Black member of Congress during Reconstruction. Died in Georgetown on August 2, 1887
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Many thanks to the speaker Linden D Anderson from the Schomburg Center
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