politics and spreading literacy to the black population of the colony. this occurs in early 1865. he establishes himself so quickly there's actually a newspaper report after his arrival that says mr. menard is a great asset to this island. we are like to have him here to bring his knowledge, his expertise, his drive to educate and the society that he sets up. so this establishes him very early on in jamaican politics. he's appointed to a committee that sends a draft of letters for reform in the colonial political system to governor eyre. it was sent back to england, this petition and attached to philanthropic reports coming out of england and it was brought before the colonial office ostensibly the queen for response but governor eyre takes a very dismissive attitude toward recommendations for reform, and this causes the two

factions to really come to a head in 1865, late 1865, just after the civil war is ended and just after what we thought of as a major advance for freedom in the world has been attained. it starts in the parish immediately adjacent to main menard's home. st. thomas, a parish on the eastern short of jamaica and the small conial town of morent bay. there is an african-american defendant who is being charged with a fine for alleged trespass on an abandoned plantation that had essentially been allowed to become overgrown and this particular defendant in the case had crossed on to the land and we think that he may have attempted to cultivate some food. but regardless of the case, what it was was essentially the land owning class was attempting to

clamp down upon black attempts to establish property rights within the colony. and this individual was brought before the court, prosecuted, threatened with a fine and after he's convicted he's brought outside of the courtroom and he's met by paul vogel, who is an affiliate of menard's and vogel with a group of men basically liberates this prisoner of his captivity after the court ruling. governor eyre does not take kindly to this. and cracks down within an iron fist upon the settlers of morant bay, the black population of morant bay, sends in the army and declares martial law. over the next several days of rioting, there's a contemporary engraving of what happened in the town of morant bay. over 400 black residents of

jamaica are strung up on the street, shot down, essentially murdered, brutalized. in the course of this event, with martial law declared, troops sweep through the parishes of the east and round up anyone deemed a political agitator. this includes menard, it includes another of his associate, samuel clark. it also in a remarkable display of arrogance, it also includes george william gordon, the member of the colonial assembly, who was residing in kingston at the time, had absolutely no knowledge or participation in any of the events in the area so-called under rebellion. governor eyre had him arrested in kingston, loaded on horseback, transported into the rebellion zone where he fell under martial law, taken on board a military ship where his lawyer, william anderson,

attempts to visit him and serve a writ of habeas corpus, is refused by the military authoriti authorities. menard is aware of these events from the shore. he also probably knows through anderson what was going on. but after anderson is refused the writ of habeas corpus, the military authorities come in and execute him for treason, on a very trumped up charge of inciting a revolt. menard himself is taken to a prison camp that was established around the morant bay area with samuel clark and probably escapes the noose himself for the sole reason that he was an american citizen. united states consul at kingston noticed an american was among the accused and began putting pressure on the british government to release him. this was achieved on the same day that samuel clark, his as

and executed in a similar manner as gordon. the u.s. consul takes menard, whisks him away to kingston and places him on the next ship bound to new orleans. under u.s. government purchase, they bought him the ticket. menard's wife and young child were left behind in kingston. he didn't even have time to say good-bye to her, which comes up later in his career. he does reunite with the family and they are able to make it out of jamaica into new orleans. when he leaves jamaica, is brought to new orleans, his stock rises instantly in the british empire as an eyewitness to the events that have just happened. this is an excerpt of a letter that he wrote to jon stuart mill, famous english classical lecture her of the 19th century. he begins to petition within the

british governor to bring up governor eyre on charges of murder and violation of due process of law. well, menard becomes an instant correspondent with mill and writes him. a firsthand account that he turns around and presents as evidence in the court. unfortunately governor eyre escaped any repercussion with the law for his charges. there was a vibrant debate that occurred in the british parliament at the time that separated the two factions, the liberal faction and old monarchist, colonial faction into two camps. some of the leading figures of british politics at the time were involved. mill also formed a committee with herbert spencer, the social scientist, charles darwin joined this committee and john bryce, the english free trader parliamentarian.

on the other side what my friend steve davisies says distinguishes the good guys from the villains of historian politics, the other side was thomas carlisle, he brought to his side charles dickens, thede the more imperialist minded members of parliament to defend eyre from prosecution. mills succeeds using this evidence and bringing governor eyre up on charges but the jury influenced by carlisle's counteractivism refuses to indict. but meanwhile menard himself has seen his stock rise as a leading light of the cause of freedom almost worldwide. he is quoted in the british anti-slavery society's newspapers, he's arrived back in

new orleans as well as and he begins to notice very quickly that the johnson administration's commitment to civil rights in the united states is very lacking. this particular quote, he compares governor eyre to president johnson and says the only difference is follows event, while the latter with an ignorance minkled with ambition and makes and temporarily controls them. in new orleans menard with the fire in his chest to fight this injustice enters politics and decides after all maybe we should continue to stake out our claim in the united states for a fair and equal-minded future where we have access to the political system, where a black man and white man can run for congress on equal terms. he obtains this ownership of a newspaper in new orleans in 1866 and uses this as a spring board that gets him elected to the

united states house of representatives. two years later on a special election. i'll conclude here with a picture of menard's arrival and the united states house of representatives in 1869. it was an international media event of the first african-american arriving on the floor of the house. this picture was taken out of frank leslie's illustrated newspaper. "harper's weekly" covered it and "the times of london" covered it. they knew him from the eyre incident. his international stock contributed to the media event around this. the final remarkable thing about menard's life is when he arrived in congress in 1869, he was only 30 years old. he accomplished this entire career of be a leader within the united states abolition movement, one of the participants in reform of in jamaican governor, a captain and

victim of the morant bay rebelian and the first african-american elected to congress by the age of 30. i'll turn that over to matthew, who will speak about his congressional career. [ applause ] mr. davis, if you would stay just for one moment. i am not matt. i am rod ross and i want to thank both clayton mckendra, a fellow board member here, as well as the congressman for coming. arkansas's loss has been illinois's gain for both of them. i'm especially pleased that the congressman was able to come. b.j. durham is a close friend of mine. her book "willie lee, a little slave boy with the desire to be

free" is truly a remarkable work. she republished her work with a 2011 quote from the congressman attesting to its inspirational character. so i'll let you leave and all is well. >> thank you. thank you. [ applause ] in 2004 the congressman was emcee for an event at the illinois state society basically put on with his office that honored three co-editors of a university of tampa press republication of a 19th century volume of poetry by john willis menard. growing up in illinois i pronounce it menard. and i've chosen to read as a kind ofem that

menard wrote to his wife, elizabeth, when he was in exile from her in the united states. >> "to emt of jamaica" away from the blue island home away from the blue eyes, the hugh of the rose never dies, i will send you these few simple lines that beguile the long weary day, thigh friendship though young i will keep and its ties i will try to improve, like wandering vines they will creep upon the famed bower of love, thy memory like a bright sunny beam lingers by me by day and by night like the glean of a heavenly vision of light, fair thee well in thy

sweet island home for the one who is far from me now again to thy bosom shall come with kisses so sweet for thy brow." [ applause ] >> good afternoon. i'm matt wisniewski from the house history office. i want to thank don and rod and the capitol historical society and the illinois state society of washington, d.c. for organizing this event. to commemorate black history month. and rod has asked me to offer something of an after word to phil's wonderful presentation, to tell you a little bit about menard's unique place in house history in the late 1860s and also put him in context of that generation of african-american pioneers who served in the house

shortly after menard's contested election. 143 years ago this february 27th john willis menard broke one of congressional history's long running color barriers. like so many later moments in which other congressional pioneers eclipsed racial barriers, that moment was both triumphal and also circumscribed. menard stood in the chamber of the u.s. house of representatives to make his case unsuccessfully in the end to be seated in the house, and the "new york tribune" reported the galleries were crowded and the house gave him his undivided attention, he being the first negro in the history of the country to whom the privilege was granted of addressing the house of representatives. now, we might be content to relegate menard to a curious historical footnote. after all, there were other earlier curious footnotes in

terms of house history. in february of 1865 house chaplain william channing invited the black preacher henry highland garnett to kmcommemora the house's approval of the 13th amendment banning slavery to deliver a sermon in the house chamber. that was a unique moment in its own right because african-americans had been banned from the house chamber as far as we know going back to the 1820s. but garnett wasn't speaking in the house while it was in legislative session and he certainly wasn't making his case to be seated as a representative. and indeed menard's brief speech, and this is an image made from a matthew brady photograph, this is menard on the floor, his brief 15-minute speech on february 27th, 1869

delivered from a desk on the republican side of the chamber potently symbolized the age. in one stroke it evoked the victory of african-american civil rights and enfranchisement after the civil war while also suggesting some of the continuities which would animate the careers of the 20 black men who would shortly follow him on to the house floor as full fledged representatives between 1870 and 1901. ef vok evoking their victories, their struggles, eventually their decline and complete exclusion from congress. contested elections are always untidy affairs, 19th century contested elections set the gold standard for that. during the reconstruction era in the occupied south we all know african-americans first exercised the vote catapulting

hundreds of southern black men into state and local public office and menard was nominated by louisiana republicans on october 4th of 1868 to run in a special election to secede the late representative james mann in a district which encompassed greater new orleans. this was for the final few months of the 40th congress, which was set to expire in march of 1869. and in a circular explaining his candidacy, menard made a clear that he intended to test the sincerity of his party's frequent profession about enfranchising african-americans. he wrote "the ballot means equal representation as well as equal rights and if men are still to be debarred from the halls of congress or even the white house on account ofheheir faces, then reconstruction and

republicanism are lamentable failures. the the great cause of equal rights will not be accomplished until the color man is seen in every department of this government. now, menard appeared to have won the november 3rd 1868 special election with 64it wld have mad first african-american to serve in congress. but his opponent, a white man by the name of caleb hunt challenged menard's right to be seated. and as the house elections committee would soon uncover, more than 80% of the votes that were first cast for hunt were thrown out by the local canvassing board, swinging the election to menard. meanwhile thousands of african-american men appeared to have been denied the ballot by violence, intimidation and outright fraud. and to complicate matters, the late representative mann's

original opponent, republican simon jones, challenged the validity of mann's original election to the house in april of 1868, arguing in essence that he, jones -- are you taking notes? -- was the writefrightful winne. adding another level of complexity was the louisiana second district, the nominal ent tie tooe in which this mess was occurring, had been redistricted since louisiana's readmittance to the union in july of 1868. its geography and constituency were great live changed since mann's election a few months earlier. so should a special election had been held to fill the old district in which the vacancy occurred or the new district?

on february 27th, 1869 following weeks of gathering testimony by the committee on election, the full house quickly he said, i would feel myself recreant if i did not oppose their rights on the floor. on account of my face, or former condition of that race. menard protested hunt's challenge on numerous ground, chief among them was that, indeed, vote counts in majority black wards appeared to be severely depressed. but after a long afternoon of debate, a majority of the full house agreed with the committee on elections, which reported that neither hunt nor menard should be seated because of the mayhem surrounding the election. and the house then moved very

quickly to deny hunt the seat and then moved to menard whom it rejected 130-57, and the vast majority of those votes for menard were radical republicans who had been supportive of him. and the seat remained vacant for the final week of the congress. but the story didn't end there. a couple days later on march 3rd, representative henry dawes of massachusetts took to the house floor and he came to admonish colleagues who were seeking to reduce the payment that had been promised menard for traveling to washington, for living in d.c. for two months while he made his case before the committee on elections. mr. jones, who had contested mann's election was paid the full freight, $2,500. but in menard's case the committee on accounts proposed now, to be fair, the chairman of this three-person panel and it was a rather backwards panel had

decided he could get some attention and save the house a little bit of cash and he also recommended that caleb hunt only be paid $1,500 in this case. but dawes objected to this because he smelled that there was more than just pecuniary motivation at work for the reduction and the reaction to him in the chamber was telling. i appeal to the house that they will be not carried away by their prejudices against color and race, dawes said. i appeal to them, not to treat him by one rule and the white man by another. i ask the gentleman who passed the constitutional amendment to see that this is not done. mr. speaker, it is unconstitutional to treat him differently. and the congressional globe, which often has wonderful little asides in it from this time period, reported that it was laughter that greeted each

refrain of this staccato appeal to menard's 14th amendment rights and the guarantees of the 15th amendment which the house and the senate had approved and sent to the states for ratification just days before menard's speech. looking back on the contested election episode, the baltimore sun declared, the fact of a colored man making a speech upon the floor of the house was one so novel that the greatest attention was paid by republicans and democrats. menard failed, however, to make an impression and it is safe to say that no other colored man will again have so good an opportunity to make an impression for no one will be again listened to with such care. as we know that verdict was premature. within a year, capitol hill marked the appointment of high ram revels of mississippi. an african-american man appointed to a brief term in the

u.s. senate. the press dubbed him the 15th amendment in flesh and blood and later in 1870 joseph rainy of south carolina won a special election to the u.s. house of representatives, becoming the first african-american to serve in our institution. the arrival of revels and rainy ranked among the great paradoxes in american history. just a decade earlier, these african-americans congressional seats were held by southern slave holders. in so many aspects menard's background and his experiences foreshadowed those of african-americans who would shortly follow him into congress as phil just alluded to, he was young, he was just 30 years old when he made that speech on the house floor, like a lot of the men who would follow him in the 1870s and 1880s. he was born into a mixed race family. he was exceedingly well educated, relative to his

contemporaries and like all those who would follow him in the next decade he was from a reconstructed republican government in the south, and as did menard, african-americans elected after him found allies among radical republicans on capitol hill. menard's contested election too was a preview of what awaited other black politicians. such cases skyrocketed in the late 19th century particularly in the south and black representatives were profoundly affected by these contested elections. three of them, joseph rainey, josiah walls of florida and richard cane all lost contested elections at one point in their career. five other african-american members of congress spent valuable time and resources to defend their contested seats, missing opportunities to introduce legislation or to speak on the house floor.

and one example, defeated for re-election in 1894, in a contest that was marred by widespread abuses george murray of south carolina spent the entire third session of the 53rd congress in late 1894 and early 1895 preparing evidence to overturn the results of that election and regain his seat in the next congress. compiling the foot thick stack of paperwork to give to the committee left him no time to legislate. and so overwhelmed was that committee on elections during this era at one point the house had three committees on elections to handle all the contested election cases. so overwhelmed was that committee, that the -- with the staggering workload that it often would deliberate cases until late into a congress leaving contestants in the form of legislative limbo. murray eventually won his seat in the following congress, but

he wasn't reseated until june of 1896, a year and a half into ace two-year congress. reconstructions often have been called the second american revolution and in recent decades because of the growing literature we've come to appreciate just how profound and also incomplete that revolution was. menard's legacy, of course, was that he was at the very vanguard of a group of african-americans who came into congress. but his experience in being excluded from the seat also intimate what is would occur to african-american congressmen at the end of the century. after formal reconstruction ended in the south in 1877, and what occurred was a process that we're familiar with that took place over several decades in which legal and extra legal methods of disenfranchisement and a system of customs and laws collectively known as jim crow

systemically and ruthlessly excluded african-americans from democratic government. but like menard's modest but noteworthy part in all this, the work of 19th century pioneer representatives and senators, african-americans, laid the groundwork for bigger changes and better chances at participation that awaited social and political movements in the 20th century. and with that, thank you and i'll turn it back to john. [ applause ] >> well, thank you, matt and phil, time for just a few questions so if you have a question, please direct it to one of our speakers. yes.tis? comments? okay. well, it is 1:00, so i thank you all for your attendance and look forward to seeing you again at our next program. thank you. [ applause ]

the strong support we have in our region of the country from which this originated gives us an excellent base to go forth on the day of november the 5th with and in my judgment we'll go forth in the beginning with at least the 107 electoral votes that surprise the states of the south and border and when you couple that with just a few other states of the union, then you have the 270 odd electoral votes necessary to win the presidency. >> as candidates campaign tore president this year, we look back at 14 men who ran for the office and lost. go to our website c-span.org/thecontenders. >> there's been honest