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| Field name | Value |
|---|---|
| Collection Reference Number | GLC09400.100 |
| From Archive Folder | Collection of letters of the first African American to serve a full term in the Senate |
| Title | W.H. Harris to Blanche Kelso Bruce requesting help with a payment on his farm |
| Date | 20 May 1876 |
| Author | Harris, W.H., (fl. 1875-1876) |
| Recipient | Kelso Bruce, Blanche |
| Document Type | Correspondence |
| Content Description | Harris is requesting help from Senator Bruce to pay the last payment on his farm. He is making this request because the levees broke and his farm has been underwater for 5 weeks, and he has been unable to grow a crop as a result. |
| Subjects | African American History African Americans in Government Congress Reconstruction Government and Civics Debt Land Transaction Infrastructure Disaster Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Finance |
| People | Bruce, Blanche Kelso (1841-1898) Harris, W.H. (fl. 1875-1876) |
| Place written | Greenville, Mississippi |
| 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 |