Jim Clyburn's new book, a bestseller
- Charles Reams 1
- 3 days ago
- 3 min read
The First Eight: A History of the eight Black Congressmen from South Carolina. Jim Clyburn is the ninth.
The Civil War started in South Carolina. So did Jim Crow, the overthrow of Reconstruction, and a long and cruel history of suppression and tyranny against Blacks.
Therefore, it is remarkable that nine congressmen have been elected against this backdrop.
South Carolina is the state that gave rise to the Civil War. Three days after Abraham Lincoln was elected president, its legislature passed a resolution calling his election “a Hostile Act” because he was against enslavement. Weeks later, South Carolina seceded from the Union, followed by 11 more Southern states that then formed a rebel government, declaring itself the Confederate States of America and triggering the war.
Little wonder that Clyburn is the only black man elected to Congress since 1897. He has been repeatedly reelected ever since. The slender slip of land that comprises the Sixth Congressional District is engulfed by colossal swathes that make up the Republican Palmetto State.
On Clyburn’s watch, Joe Biden was elected President. Biden thus rewarded Clyburn with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2024.
This book celebrates the nine Congressmen who have held this high office.
Joseph H. Rainey (1832-1887), born enslaved, became the first Black member of the U.S. House of Representatives and was the longest-serving Black member of Congress in the 19th century.
Robert C. De Large (1842-1874) was “mulatto elite,” wealthy, and a slaveholder himself who moved to Charleston for an education despite laws against teaching Black people to read and write. De Large was considered “Brown” and accorded privileges not available to Blacks, earning him no respect from his colleagues.
Robert Brown Elliott (1842-1884), a Northerner, didn’t grow up in an enslaved state but moved to South Carolina as an adult, a free man. He co-founded the nation’s first-known Black law firm in Charleston and married into a prominent mixed-race family, which put him squarely among the Black elite of the day.
Richard H. Cain (1825-1887), another Northerner who moved to South Carolina as an adult and a free man, became the first Black minister to serve in Congress. Cain witnessed the faith that sustained the Black community. Clyburn writes: “Faith is a through line . . . particularly in the Black community.” Throughout the book, he highlights the role of the church, particularly the A.M.E. Church known as Mother Emmanuel, established in Charleston in 1818. (Clyburn also applauds Cain for purchasing and running a small newspaper to educate and inform his community, which is something Clyburn did for several years before being elected to Congress. He continues to write columns in 200 Black newspapers across the country “to make sure our message gets through the fractured and polarized media landscape today.”)
Alonzo J. Ransier (1834-1882), the first of two Black lieutenant governors of South Carolina, served only one term in the House of Representatives yet made himself heard: “We are circumscribed within the narrowest possible limits on every hand, disowned, spit upon, and outraged in a thousand ways.” But he served nonetheless.
Robert Smalls (1839-1915) was a Civil War hero whom Clyburn describes as “the most consequential South Carolinian who ever lived.” While working on a Charleston ship during the war, Smalls plotted an escape when his white supervisors went ashore for a night of drinking, leaving the vessel unattended. During those hours, Smalls commandeered the ship and steered its enslaved crew and their wives into Union waters. “I thought this ship might be of use to Uncle Abe,” he told the Union blockade commander who boarded the stolen steamer. Harper’s Weekly heralded Smalls’ act as “one of the most daring and heroic adventures since the war commenced.” Smalls was summoned to meet President Lincoln, and when “Uncle Abe” asked why he’d dared such an escape, the young man simply said, “Freedom.”
Thomas E. Miller (1849-1938) studied law at the University of South Carolina and became the first president of what is now South Carolina State University. He “was biologically white” but adopted by free Black parents. He asked that his gravestone be inscribed: “Not having loved the White less, but having felt the Negro needed me more.” Inspired by this, Clyburn instructed his own family to inscribe on his gravestone: “He did his best to make the greatness of America accessible and affordable to all.”
George W. Murray (1853-1926) was born a slave, but he taught public school while farming and raising livestock. He was the last Black South Carolinian to serve in the House of Representatives in the 19th century.
Busy people often use their time well in using professional writers, but the story is no less Clyborn’s.
Pardonably proud of himself and where he comes from, Clyburn never denies himself and trusts that his words will endure for generations. His history speaks for itself.
