Jeremiah Haralson
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Jeremiah Haralson (April 1, 1846 – unknown) was a politician from Alabama who served as a state legislator and was among the first ten
African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...
United States Congressmen. Born into slavery in
Columbus, Georgia Columbus is a consolidated city-county located on the west-central border of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. Columbus lies on the Chattahoochee River directly across from Phenix City, Alabama. It is the county seat of Muscogee ...
, Haralson became self-educated while enslaved in
Selma, Alabama Selma is a city in and the county seat of Dallas County, in the Black Belt region of south central Alabama and extending to the west. Located on the banks of the Alabama River, the city has a population of 17,971 as of the 2020 census. Abou ...
. He was a leader among
freedmen A freedman or freedwoman is a person who has been released from slavery, usually by legal means. Historically, slaves were freed by manumission (granted freedom by their owners), emancipation (granted freedom as part of a larger group), or self- ...
after the American Civil War. He became active in politics, being elected as a Republican to the State House and the State Senate from
Dallas County, Alabama Dallas County is a County (United States), county located in the Central Alabama, central part of the U.S. state of Alabama. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, its population was 38,462. The county seat is Selma, Alabama, Selma. ...
. He was elected in 1874 and served in the
United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...
, representing Alabama's 1st congressional district in the
44th United States Congress The 44th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 1875, ...
. The conservative Democrats gained control of the state legislature and
gerrymander Gerrymandering, ( , originally ) defined in the contexts of Representative democracy, representative electoral systems, is the political manipulation of Boundary delimitation, electoral district boundaries to advantage a Political party, pa ...
ed several districts. In 1876 Haralson was forced to run from the changed Alabama's 4th congressional district, the only one still having a majority-black population. Running as an independent against the Republican candidate, James T. Rapier, Haralson essentially split the Republican vote. Dallas County Sheriff Charles M. Shelley, a Democrat, won the seat with 38% of the vote. Although not successful in gaining elective office again, Haralson was appointed to Republican patronage positions in the Customs Service, Department of Interior, and the Pension Bureau in Washington, DC. After 1884, he returned to the South. He was convicted of pension fraud in 1894. He appeared to vanish from the historical record upon imprisonment in New York.


Early life and education

Born into slavery on the plantation of John Walker near
Columbus, Georgia Columbus is a consolidated city-county located on the west-central border of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. Columbus lies on the Chattahoochee River directly across from Phenix City, Alabama. It is the county seat of Muscogee ...
, Haralson was self-educated.''History of the Negro Race in America''
Free Fiction Books
He was sold on the auction block in Columbus to J.W. Thompson. When Thompson died, Jeremiah was sold to Judge Jonathan Haralson who later was a president of the
Southern Baptist Convention The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), alternatively the Great Commission Baptists (GCB), is a Christian denomination based in the United States. It is the world's largest Baptist organization, the largest Protestant, and the second-largest Chr ...
, of
Selma, Alabama Selma is a city in and the county seat of Dallas County, in the Black Belt region of south central Alabama and extending to the west. Located on the banks of the Alabama River, the city has a population of 17,971 as of the 2020 census. Abou ...
. This was the county seat of Dallas County, which had a majority-black population both before and after the Civil War. Jeremiah was enslaved until 1865. While a slave, he became a preacher.


Political career

After emancipation, Haralson taught himself to read and write and worked for a time as a farmer. He became involved in politics. In 1868 he campaigned for Democrat Horatio Seymour to defeat Republican
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 ...
for president. Some ex-Confederates questioned his sincerity, as most
freedmen A freedman or freedwoman is a person who has been released from slavery, usually by legal means. Historically, slaves were freed by manumission (granted freedom by their owners), emancipation (granted freedom as part of a larger group), or self- ...
were supporting the Republican Party of
Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the 16th president of the United States, serving from 1861 until Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, his assassination in 1865. He led the United States through the American Civil War ...
, who had gained their emancipation.Bruce Derbes, "Jeremiah Haralson"
''Encyclopedia of Alabama''
Some sources say that Haralson was a candidate for U.S. Congress in 1868. But the official results do not list him as a candidate. He would have been running from the Alabama First District, which reported 100% of votes for one candidate, so they may have conducted a primary in which he was defeated. In 1870 Haralson allied with the Republican Party, but he maintained a network with some Democratic leaders. Republicans were suspicious of Haralson because of his friendships with Democrats such as
Jefferson Davis Jefferson F. Davis (June 3, 1808December 6, 1889) was an American politician who served as the only President of the Confederate States of America, president of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1865. He represented Mississippi in the Unite ...
, former president of the Confederacy; Rep. Lucius Q. C. Lamar of Mississippi, and Georgia Senator John B. Gordon, who was later elected as governor of that state. In 1870 Haralson was elected as a Republican and the first black member of the
Alabama House of Representatives The Alabama House of Representatives is the lower house of the Alabama Legislature, the state legislature (United States), state legislature of state of Alabama. The House is composed of 105 members representing an equal number of districts, with ...
. In 1872, he was elected to the State Senate from the Twenty-First District. He helped get a civil rights bill through the Senate during his term and was considered politically powerful. He backed Republican
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 ...
for president in 1872. His pro-Grant stance brought him into disputes with
P. B. S. Pinchback Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchback (May 10, 1837 – December 21, 1921) was an American publisher, politician, and Union Army officer who served as Governor of Louisiana from December 9, 1872 to January 13, 1873. Pinchback is commonly referr ...
, the African-American
governor of Louisiana The governor of Louisiana (; ) is the chief executive of the U.S. state government of Louisiana. The governor also serves as the commander in chief of the Louisiana National Guard. Republican Jeff Landry has held the office since January 8, ...
, who served for thirty days following the suspension of the Republican governor there during impeachment proceedings because of a disputed gubernatorial election in that state in 1872. In 1874, Haralson was elected as a Republican from Alabama's 1st congressional district, which then included both Selma and Mobile, to the Forty-fourth U.S. Congress (March 4, 1875 - March 3, 1877). His election was contested by Liberal Republican Frederick G. Bromberg. Haralson asked Judge Jonathan Haralson, his former master, to advocate his cause. The judge agreed and contacted his friends (former Confederates and current Democrats) serving in Congress. With the judge's advocacy, Haralson was accepted into the House of Representatives in March 1875. As a member of Congress, Haralson sought a general amnesty for former Confederates (who had been temporarily barred from office) in order to help create harmony between blacks and whites. Haralson's oratorical abilities drew the commendation of
Frederick Douglass Frederick Douglass (born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, February 14, 1818 – February 20, 1895) was an American social reformer, Abolitionism in the United States, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. He was the most impor ...
, an established civil rights leader in the North. Douglass described Haralson as speaking “with humor enough in him to supply a half dozen circus clowns.”People: Haralson, Jeremiah (1846–1916)
History, Art & Archives, House of Representatives
In 1876 Haralson ran for reelection. Due to redistricting by the state legislature to accomplish gerrymandering, he was running for Alabama's 4th congressional district, which then had a black majority. Election campaigns in the 1870s had been violent as Democrats sought to regain political control of the state, using fraud, intimidation and physical violence to suppress the black vote, because of the black-majority or near-majority population in many counties, who were voting for Republican candidates. Former congressman James T. Rapier, who was also African American, had bought a plantation in this district. This was the only remaining Alabama district in which the black population still comprised a majority population. Rapier won the Republican primary and thus the nomination, but Haralson ran as an independent. Their competition split the black Republican vote: Haralson received 33.93% of the vote, more than Rapier's 28%. But the Democratic candidate Charles M. Shelley, former Dallas County Sheriff, won the seat with 38% of the vote. Haralson ran against Shelley again in 1878. He received 42.57% of the vote, or 6,545 votes, and was defeated again. This was considerably lower than the 8,675 he had received two years before, showing the effects of Democratic suppression of the black Republican vote. In 1879, Haralson was appointed by President Rutherford B. Hayes to a Federal patronage position in the United States customhouse in
Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the List of United States ...
. He was later employed as a clerk at the
Department of the Interior The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the management and conservation of most federal lands and natural resources. It also administers programs relatin ...
. Appointed on August 12, 1882, to the Pension Bureau in
Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...
; he served until August 21, 1884. Haralson moved to
Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...
, where he engaged in agricultural pursuits. He moved to
Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...
in 1891, where he served as pension agent. He was indicted and convicted on charges of pension fraud in 1894. Haralson vanishes from the historical record upon entering the Albany County Penitentiary in
Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It is located on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River. Albany is the oldes ...
on March 25, 1895.


Personal life

In 1870, Jeremiah Haralson married Ellen Norwood; they had a son, Henry, born in 1871. In 1885, Booker T. Washington proudly announced that Henry was a student at
Tuskegee Institute Tuskegee University (Tuskegee or TU; formerly known as the Tuskegee Institute) is a Private university, private, Historically black colleges and universities, historically black land-grant university in Tuskegee, Alabama, United States. It was f ...
, where Washington was president.


Later life and death

Anecdotal evidence compiled in the '' Biographical Directory of the United States Congress'' reported that he moved to Texas, then Oklahoma and Colorado, worked as a coal miner and was killed by wild animals while hunting near
Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...
. However, no corroborating evidence has been found for either his Western travels or his unusual death, leaving his fate an unsolved mystery.


See also

* List of African-American United States representatives * List of people who disappeared


References


Further reading

*Bailey, Richard. ''They Too Call Alabama Home: African American Profiles, 1800-1999.'' Montgomery: Pyramid Publishing, 1999. *Clay, William L. ''Just Permanent Interests: Black Americans in Congress, 1870-1991.'' New York: Amistad Press, 1992. *Foner, Eric. ''Freedom's Lawmakers: A Directory of Black Officeholders during Reconstruction.'' Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1996. * Lyman, Brian. (February 26, 2020)
The Lost Congressman: What happened to Jeremiah Haralson?
Montgomery: '' Montgomery Advertiser'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Haralson, Jeremiah 1846 births 1890s missing person cases 1916 deaths 19th-century American slaves African-American members of the United States House of Representatives African-American politicians during the Reconstruction Era African-American state legislators in Alabama Alabama state senators Deaths due to animal attacks in the United States Louisiana Republicans Members of the Alabama House of Representatives Missing person cases in New York (state) Politicians from Columbus, Georgia Politicians from Selma, Alabama Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Alabama People enslaved in Georgia (U.S. state) 19th-century members of the United States House of Representatives 19th-century members of the Alabama Legislature