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Alabama's Black Leaders During Reconstruction

Social Origins:

• Few were wealthy, educated, or well-traveled before assuming public office.
• Few had military experience.
• Most were ex-slaves.
• Most lived in the Black Belt; others lived in the Tennessee Valley, and the Mobile area.
• Some had been ministers in antebellum Alabama.
• One, Horace King, had been a bridge builder.

Achievements:

• Helped pave the way for universal public education.
• Helped change laws regarding imprisonment for debt and inheritance for women.
• Introduced state's first civil rights bill in state House of Representatives and Senate.
• Helped introduce the Republican party to Alabama; helped make it a formidable force.
• Established first black banks and labor union.
• Helped establish schools and churches.

Other Important Points:

• Alabama's Reconstruction black leaders began to emerge when the Freedmen's Conventions met in Mobile in 1865 and 1867.
• The Reconstruction Acts of 1867 gave the state its first group of black political leaders.
• The first group of black lawmakers in Alabama was comprised of registrars, who assumed their duties in 1867.
• There were 45 registrars chosen in accordance with the Reconstruction Acts of 1867.
• One black registrar was chosen for every two white registrars.
• The Alabama Constitutional Convention of 1867 was the first time blacks had been delegates to such a body, giving blacks their first opportunity to help draft a constitution—the Constitution of 1868.
• Reconstruction produced three black representatives in Congress.
• Black leaders were not the pawns of carpetbaggers.
• Black leaders were men of vision and many talents.