Abram Colby was an American minister and politician who served in the

Georgia House of Representatives The Georgia House of Representatives is the lower house of the Georgia General Assembly (the state legislature) of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. There are currently 180 elected members. Republican Party (United States), Repu ...

during the

Reconstruction era The Reconstruction era was a period in History of the United States, US history that followed the American Civil War (1861-65) and was dominated by the legal, social, and political challenges of the Abolitionism in the United States, abol ...

. He was enslaved by his father.Freedom's Lawmakers by

Eric Foner Eric Foner (; born February 7, 1943) is an American historian. He writes extensively on American political history, the history of freedom, the early history of the Republican Party, African American biography, the American Civil War, Reconstr ...

Louisiana State University Press 1996 page 47

Early life and Family

Colby was the son of an enslaved woman named Mary Minnie and an Irish plantation owner John Colby. He resided in

Greene County, Georgia Greene County is a county located in the east central portion & the Lake country region of the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 18,915. The county seat is Greensboro. The county was created on February 3, 1786 ...

and was freed fifteen years prior to

emancipation Emancipation generally means to free a person from a previous restraint or legal disability. More broadly, it is also used for efforts to procure Economic, social and cultural rights, economic and social rights, civil and political rights, po ...

. He was an early organizer of freed slaves. Colby and minister

Henry McNeal Turner Henry McNeal Turner (February 1, 1834 – May 8, 1915) was an American minister, politician, and the 12th elected and consecrated bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME). After the American Civil War, he worked to establish new A.M ...

worked together to form a chapter of the

American Equal Rights Association The American Equal Rights Association (AERA) was formed in 1866 in the United States. According to its constitution, its purpose was "to secure Equal Rights to all American citizens, especially the right of suffrage, irrespective of race, color o ...

. He was married to Anne Colby and they had three children: Ella, Julia, and William.

Service

Colby was known for eloquent oratory, and represented Greene County in 1865 at a freeman's convention. A

Radical Republican The Radical Republicans were a political faction within the Republican Party originating from the party's founding in 1854—some six years before the Civil War—until the Compromise of 1877, which effectively ended Reconstruction. They ca ...

, Colby was first elected in 1866. Colby could not read, so he kept his son close to him during all official legislative matters, to act as his secretary. In the election of 1868 under the "Reconstruction Constitution", roughly 1,200 of Greene County's 1,500 eligible black voters turned out to help elect two Republicans to the House. They were Colby and a former Confederate Major, moderate republican Robert McWhorter, who went on to serve as

Speaker Speaker most commonly refers to: * Speaker, a person who produces speech * Loudspeaker, a device that produces sound ** Computer speakers Speaker, Speakers, or The Speaker may also refer to: Arts and entertainment * "Speaker" (song), by David ...

of the House. In that same election,

Ulysses S. Grant Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was the 18th president of the United States, serving from 1869 to 1877. In 1865, as Commanding General of the United States Army, commanding general, Grant led the Uni ...

carried Greene County in the Presidential race. Unable to defeat Colby at the polls, and failing in their attempts to intimidate black voters, Greene County Democrats and local merchants offered Colby $5,000 to switch to the Democratic party, or $2,500 to simply resign his seat in the Legislature. Colby responded that he would not do it for all the wealth in Greene County. Two nights later, he was attacked and beaten.

Beating by the KKK

On October 29, 1869, he was taken from his bed and beaten by 65 Ku Klux Klan membersWilliams, Kidada E. ''I Saw Death Coming: A History of Terror and Survival in the War Against Reconstruction''. Bloomsbury Publishing USA, 2023. in front of his family. One of them pointed a gun (but did not fire it) at his young daughter Amanda. She died soon afterward, and Colby believed the trauma of the attack was partly responsible. During his whipping he was asked, "Do you think you will ever vote another damned Radical ticket." He replied, "If there was an election tomorrow, I would vote the Radical ticket." After his remark, the men continued to beat him. Governor Bullock offered a reward of $5,000 for the arrest of the attackers. Faced with debilitating injury, he was unable to work and did not seek re-election. In 1872, he was called before a joint U.S. House and Senate committee investigating reports of Southern violence. His injuries were so extensive Colby was recorded saying in his testimony during the Joint Select Committee Report: "They broke something inside of me, and the doctor has been attending to me for more than a year. Sometimes I cannot get up and down off my bed, and my left hand is not of much use to me."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Colby, Abram 1822 births 1872 deaths Republican Party members of the Georgia House of Representatives African-American state legislators in Georgia (U.S. state) People from Greene County, Georgia African-American politicians during the Reconstruction Era Free Negroes Original 33 Victims of the Ku Klux Klan Ku Klux Klan in Georgia (U.S. state) American people of Irish descent People enslaved in Georgia (U.S. state) 19th-century members of the Georgia General Assembly Racially motivated violence against African Americans in Georgia (U.S. state)