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Collection Reference Number GLC09400.038
From Archive Folder Collection of letters of the first African American to serve a full term in the Senate 
Title Jane L. Ireland to Jake regarding a job that Jake was applying to but did not get
Date 18 September 1899
Author Ireland, Jane L., (fl. 1899)  
Document Type Correspondence
Content Description A letter between a man named Jake, and Jane L Ireland about a job that Jake was applying to but did not get due to the fact his brother already worked there. Jane said she would ask Bruce for help and see what he could do for Jake.
Subjects African American History  African Americans in Government  Congress  Law  Reconstruction  Government and Civics  Woman Author  Women's History  Office Seeker  Children and Family  
People Bruce, Blanche Kelso (1841-1898)  Ireland, Jane L. (fl. 1899)  
Place written New Orleans
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