The Journal of Negro History, Volume 5, 1920

by Various

[1] Columbia State, December 24, 1918.

A Summary of Negro Members of Some Reconstruction Legislatures

	1868-69		1870-71		1871-72		1873-74		1874-75		1876
	Whites	Negroes	Whites	Negroes	Whites	Negroes	Whites	Negroes	Whites	Negroes	Whites	Negroes
Alabama
Senate	32	1	29	4	29	4	29	4	27	6	27	6
House	74	26	73	27	86	14	73	27	71	29	77	23
Arkansas
Senate	23	1	22	2	..	..	22	2	..	..	..	..
House	73	7	71	9	..	..	71	9	..	..	..	..
Georgia
Senate	41	3	42	2	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	..
House	145	30	149	26	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	..
Mississippi
Senate	..	..	29	4	..	..	28	9	..	..	32	5
House	..	..	77	30	76	39	60	55	..	..	100	16
N. Carolina
Senate	47	3	47	9	45	5	46	4	46	4	..	..
House	102	18	101	1	108	12	107	13	107	13	113	7
S. Carolina
Senate	24	9	22	11	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	..
House	48	76	49	75	..	..	..	..	..	..	70	54
Texas
Senate	..	..	28	2	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	..
House	..	..	82	8	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	..
Virginia
Senate	..	..	..	..	..	..	37	3	37	3	37	3
House	119	18	116	21	..	..	115	17	112	17	112	13

There were Negro members of the North Carolina legislature to 1899 and of the Virginia legislature to 1891 as follows:

North Carolina			Virginia
	Senators	Representatives		Senator	Representatives
1879	2	6	1876-77	3	12
1881	1	4	1877-78	3	4
1883	3	5	1878-79	3	4
1885	2	2	1883-84	3	8
1887	3	3	1884-85	1	7
1889		2	1885-86	1	1
1891	1		1886-87	1	1
1893		1	1887-88	1	7
1895		1	1888-89	1	7
1897		1	1889-90	1	4
1899	1	1	1890-91	1	3

Speech of William H. Gray before the Arkansas Constitutional Convention, 1868[1]

William H. Gray, a Negro, and delegate to the convention from Phillips County, rose and spoke as follows:

"It appears to me, the gentleman has read the history of his country to little purpose. When the Constitution was framed, in every State but South Carolina free Negroes were allowed to vote. Under British rule this class was free, and he interpreted that 'we the people' in the preamble of the Constitution, meant all the people of every color. The mistake of that period was that these free Negroes were not represented in propria persona in that constitutional convention, but by the Anglo-Saxon. Congress is now correcting that mistake. The right of franchise is due the Negroes bought by the blood of forty thousand of their race shed in three wars. The troubles now on the country are the result of the bad exercise of the elective franchise by unintelligent whites, the 'poor whites' of the South. I could duplicate every Negro who cannot read and write, whose name is on the list of registered voters, with a white man equally ignorant. The gentleman can claim to be a friend of the Negro, but I do not desire to be looked upon in the light of a client. The Government has made a solemn covenant with the Negro to vest him with the right of franchise if he would throw his weight in the balance in favor of the Union and bare his breast to the storm of bullets; and I am convinced that it would not go back on itself. There are thirty-two million whites to four million blacks in the country, and there need be no fear of Negro domination. The State laws do not protect the Negro in his rights, as they forbade their entrance into the State. (Action of loyal convention of '64). I am not willing to trust the rights of my people with the white men, as they have not preserved those of their own race, in neglecting to provide them with the means of education. The Declaration of Independence declared all men born free and equal, and I demand the enforcement of that guarantee made to my forefathers, to every one of each race, who had fought for it. The constitution which this ordinance would reenact it not satisfactory, as it is blurred all over with the word 'white.' Under it one hundred and eleven thousand beings who live in the State have no rights which white men are bound to respect. My people might be ignorant, but I believe, with Jefferson, that ignorance is no measure of a man's rights. Slavery has been abolished, but it left my people in a condition of peonage or caste worse than slavery, which had its humane masters. White people should look to their own ancestry; they should recollect that women were disposed of on the James River, in the early settlement of the country, as wives, at the price of two hundred pounds of tobacco. When we have had eight hundred years as the whites to enlighten ourselves, it will be time enough to pronounce them incapable of civilization and enlightenment. The last election showed that they were intelligent enough to vote in a solid mass with the party that would give them their rights, and that too in face of the influence of the intelligence and wealth of the State, and in face of threats to take the bread from their very mouths. I have no antipathy toward the whites; I would drop the curtain of oblivion on the sod which contains the bones of my oppressed and wronged ancestors for two hundred and fifty years. Give us the franchise, and if we do not exercise it properly, you have the numbers to take it away from us. It would be impossible for the Negro to get justice in a State whereof he was not a full citizen. The prejudice of the entire court would be against him. I do not expect the Negro to take possession of the government; I want the franchise given him as an incentive to work to educate his children. I do not desire to discuss the question of the inferiority of races. Unpleasant truths must then be told; history tells us of your white ancestors who lived on the acorns which dropped from the oaks of Didona, and then worshipped the tree as a God. I call upon all men who would see justice done, to meet this question fairly, and fear not to record their votes."

In the session of January 29th, he said: