Trent Lott: “the first African American to serve a full term in the United States Senate represented my great State of Mississippi.…”

“the first African American to serve a full term in the United States Senate represented my great State of Mississippi. Blanche Kelso Bruce was elected to the Senate in 1874 by the Mississippi State Legislature where he served from 1875 until 1881. On February 14, 1879, he broke a second barrier by becoming the first African American to preside over a Senate session. He was a leader in the nationwide fight for African American rights, fighting for desegregation of the Army and protection of voting rights. Blanche Kelso Bruce was born into slavery near Farmville, VA, on March 1, 1841, and spent his early years in Virginia and Missouri. He was 20 years old when the Civil War broke out. He tried to enlist in the Union Army but was rejected because of his race. He then turned his attention to teaching and while in Missouri organized that State's first school for African Americans. In 1869 he moved to Mississippi to become a planter on a cotton plantation, and the Magnolia State is where he became active in Republican politics. He rose in Mississippi politics from membership on the Mississippi Levee Board, as the sheriff and tax collector for Bolivar County surrounding Cleveland, Mississippi, and as the Sergeant-at-Arms for the Mississippi State Senate. It was Blanche Kelso Bruce's perseverance, selfless public service and commitment to Mississippi that led to the Mississippi State Legislature's election of him to serve in the U.S. Senate.”