and later in 1870 joseph rainey 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 rainey ranks 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 the other men who would follow him in the 1870s and 1880s. he was exceedingly well educated relative to his contemporaries, and like all of 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 capital hill. menard's contested election, too, was a preview of what awaited other black politicians. such cases skyr

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. m