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Collection Reference Number GLC09400.152.01
From Archive Folder Collection of letters of the first African American to serve a full term in the Senate 
Title Josie M Robinson to Blanche Kelso Bruce requesting help in achieving her reappointment in the government printing offices
Date 28 January 1879
Author Robinson, Josie M., (fl. 1879)  
Recipient Kelso Bruce, Blanche  
Document Type Correspondence
Content Description This letter is to ask Senator Bruce if he can help Robinson reinstated in her former position. She was on the regular roll but upon the retirement of the former commissioner was dismissed, since then multiple people have been put back on the regular role and she is inquiring if she may be placed back on, or if not if there is any other employment to be had.
Subjects African American History  African Americans in Government  Congress  Reconstruction  Government and Civics  Printing  Woman Author  Women's History  Office Seeker  
People Bruce, Blanche Kelso (1841-1898)  Robinson, Josie M. (fl. 1879)  
Place written Washington, D.C.
Theme Government & Politics; African Americans
Sub-collection The Gilder Lehrman Collection, 1860-1945
Additional Information Blanche Kelso Bruce was born into slavery near Farmville, Prince Edward County, Va. on March 1 1841. He was tutored by his master's son, but left his master at the beginning of the civil war and taught school in Hannibal Mo. After the civil war Bruce became a planter in Mississippi, and a member of the Mississippi Levee Board, and Sheriff and Tax Collector for Bolivar County from 1872-1875. Bruce was then elected as a Republican to the United States Senate, where he served from March 4 1875 - March 3 1881. Bruce was the first African American to serve a full term in the U.S. Senate. In 1881 Bruce was appointed by President James Garfield as the Register of the Treasury. Bruce then went on to serve as the Recorder of Deeds for the District of Colombia from 1891-1893, returning to the office of Register of the Treasury from 1897 until his death on March 17, 1898.
Copyright The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
Module Civil War, Reconstruction and the Modern Era: 1860-1945
Related documents Josie M Robinson to Blanche Kelso Bruce thanking him for his help in finding a position