Heritage Cards
Every official documented in The Silence Archive — the ones who held power during Reconstruction, the ones who were driven out, and the ones who came back.
Born free in Fayetteville, North Carolina. On January 20, 1870, the Mississippi legislature elected him to the Senate seat once held by Jefferson Davis. He was sworn in February 25, 1870 — the first Black person to serve in the United States Congress.
Born enslaved in Farmville, Virginia. The only Black senator to serve a full Senate term until Edward Brooke in 1967 — 86 years later. He chaired the Senate Committee on Manufacturers.
Acting governor of Louisiana, 1872–1873 — the first Black governor in American history. Elected to the U.S. Senate in 1873, but the Senate debated his credentials for years and refused to seat him. The clearest case in the archive of exclusion by legislative vote.
The last Black congressman from the South before the silence. Introduced the first federal anti-lynching bill in 1900. His farewell — “Phoenix-like he will rise up someday and come again” — proved right 72 years later.
Lived in Washington DC from 1872 until his death in 1895. Served as U.S. Marshal for DC (appointed 1877) and Recorder of Deeds (1881–1886). The most prominent Black American of the 19th century spent his last decades in a city where he had no vote in Congress.
First Black woman elected to the Texas Senate (1966) and first Black congresswoman from the South, seated January 3, 1973. Her Watergate-hearing statement — “My faith in the Constitution is whole, it is complete, it is total” — is among the most consequential speeches in congressional history.
Senior aide to Martin Luther King Jr. First Black congressman from Georgia since Jefferson Long departed in 1871 — a 102-year silence. Later U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and mayor of Atlanta.
DC civil rights leader who co-organized the 1963 March on Washington. Served as Washington’s first nonvoting delegate to Congress since the Reconstruction era, spending his career fighting for the vote his city was denied.
The first African American mayor of a major American city. Appointed DC mayor-commissioner by President Johnson in 1967, then elected after Home Rule — sworn in January 2, 1975 by Justice Thurgood Marshall.
SNCC chapter leader in DC who organized boycotts and rallies for home rule. Elected mayor in 1978 and re-elected in 1982 — his arc running directly from the civil rights movement to the elected government DC residents finally won.
Seated January 3, 1993 — the first Black congressman from South Carolina since Robert Smalls (1887). Served as House Majority Whip and represents parts of Joseph Rainey’s former district. Rainey arrived in 1870; Clyburn arrived 123 years later.