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First African American senator (1870 - 1871)
First African American senator (1870 - 1871)
Became a minister (1845)
Served as president of Alcorn College, the state's first college for African American students (1876-1874 and 1876-1882)
Served as Secretary of State of Mississippi ad interim (1873)

First African American to serve in the United States House of Representatives (1870)
First African American to serve in the United States House of Representatives (1870)
Re-elected to Congress four times; served until 1879
Focused on supporting legislation to protect the civil rights of Southern blacks

First African American governor (1872 – 1873, Louisiana); served only 35 days
First African American governor (1872 – 1873, Louisiana); served only 35 days
Appointed second African American lieutenant governor of a U.S. state after the death of the first African-American elected lieutenant governor
Took up the practice of law at age 50
Grandfather of Harlem Renaissance poet, Jean Toomer

One of the first black people in the United States elected to public office (1855)
One of the first black people in the United States elected to public office (1855)
Organized the Law department at Howard University (1868)
Great-uncle of renowned poet Langston Hughes

First African American to serve a full term in the United States Senate (1875-1881)
First African American to serve a full term in the United States Senate (1875-1881)
Only former slave to preside over the U.S. Senate (1879)
First African-American to win votes at a major party's nominating convention with 8 votes for vice president at the Republican National Convention in Chicago (1880)
Appointed Register of the Treasury, making him the first black person whose signature was represented on U.S. paper currency (1881)