DID YOU KNOW THAT ?

On this day in history, October 19, 1870, Republican Congressman Joseph Hane Rainey won a full term in the House of Representatives. Rainey, who won with 63 percent of the vote, defeated Democrat candidate C.W. Dudley.

Rainey, who was the ...first black man to serve in the House, was first appointed to congress to complete the term of Benjamin F. Whittemore by the South Carolina GOP in February of 1870. Whittemore was forced to resign because of his involvement in a scandal regarding appointments in military academies.

Congressman Rainey was also the first black man to preside over the House of Representatives.