The First Eight: A Personal History of the Pioneering Black Congressmen who Shaped a Nation

In this stirring tribute, Clyburn, South Carolina’s ninth Black congressman, profiles his eight predecessors, Black Republicans who served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1868 to 1897. They include Robert Smalls, who won his freedom during the Civil War by hijacking a Confederate ship; George Washington Murray, an ex-slave who became a prosperous landowner; and Richard Cain, a prominent freeborn Methodist minister. Their saga starts with extraordinary hopes in the 1860s, when the 14th Amendment and federal civil rights laws enforced by federal occupation troops gave Black South Carolinians the right to vote, resulting in a state legislature and Congressional delegation dominated by Black Republicans who pursued measures to give freedmen land, education, and equality. Later chapters recount the backlash: hundreds of Republicans were murdered by the KKK and the Red Shirt militia, Democratic election officials stuffed ballot boxes and intimidated Black voters, and unfairly implemented voting regulations caused Black voter registration to plummet. Clyburn chronicles the dogged struggle of his eight predecessors to preserve Black rights—Smalls was almost killed when Red Shirts invaded a campaign rally—as they navigated Democratic violence, an increasingly indifferent Congress, and intra-Party rivalries. The narrative is full of drama, and Clyburn adds insights from his own experience breaking racial barriers as a civil-rights-era politician. It adds up to a gripping account of political courage under the most fraught circumstances. (Nov.)