Josiah Thomas Walls (December 30, 1842 – May 15, 1905) was an American farmer, lawyer, and politician who served all or some of three terms 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 ...

between 1871 and 1876. A member of the Republican Party, he was one of the first

African Americans in the United States Congress From the first United States Congress in 1789 through the 119th Congress in 2024, 198 African Americans served in Congress. Meanwhile, the total number of all individuals who have served in Congress over that period is 12,585. Between 1789 and ...

elected 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 ...

, and the first black person to be elected to Congress from Florida. He also served four terms in the

Florida Senate The Florida Senate is the upper house of the Florida Legislature, the State legislature (United States), state legislature of the U.S. state of Florida, the Florida House of Representatives being the lower house. Article III, Section 1 of the C ...

. Twice his election to U.S. Congress was overturned.

Early life and education

Josiah Walls was born into slavery in 1842 near

Winchester, Virginia Winchester is the northwesternmost Administrative divisions of Virginia#Independent cities, independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. It is the county seat of Frederick County, Virginia, Frederi ...

to unknown parents. During the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

, he was forced to work without pay as a slave for the

Confederate army The Confederate States Army (CSA), also called the Confederate army or the Southern army, was the military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fi ...

. He was captured by the Union Army in 1862 at Yorktown. He voluntarily joined the

United States Colored Troops United States Colored Troops (USCT) were Union Army regiments during the American Civil War that primarily comprised African Americans, with soldiers from other ethnic groups also serving in USCT units. Established in response to a demand fo ...

in 1863 and rose to the rank of first sergeant. He was discharged in

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

and settled in

Alachua County, Florida Alachua County ( ) is a county in the north central portion of the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 census, the population was 278,468. The county seat is Gainesville, the home of the University of Florida. History Prehistory and ear ...

. Thanks to some early education and self-tutoring during the war, Walls was able to work as a teacher in nearby

Archer Archery is the sport, practice, or skill of using a bow to shoot arrows.Paterson ''Encyclopaedia of Archery'' p. 17 The word comes from the Latin ''arcus'', meaning bow. Historically, archery has been used for hunting and combat. In modern ...

Political career

State government

Walls served as a delegate to the state constitutional convention of 1868, representing Alachua County. Later that year, he was elected to the

Florida House of Representatives The Florida House of Representatives is the lower house of the Florida Legislature, the State legislature (United States), state legislature of the U.S. state of Florida, the Florida Senate being the upper house. Article III, Section 1 of the C ...

from Alachua, along with his friend,

Henry Harmon Henry S. Harmon (c. 1839 – December 24, 1889) was an attorney and politician in Florida after the Civil War. He was the first African-American to be admitted to the bar in Florida. He was from Pennsylvania and served in the Union army during the ...

, serving in Florida's first Reconstruction Legislature. When State Senator Horatio Jenkins was appointed to a county judgeship, Walls decided to run in the special election to succeed him. He was elected to the Alachua and Levy County district on December 29, 1868, and took office in January. Walls served as state senator for the 1869 and 1870 legislative session.People of Lawmaking in Florida

Congress

In 1870, Walls was nominated as the Republican candidate for Florida's sole at-large congressional seat after a contentious party convention. A moderate faction of mostly white

carpetbagger In the history of the United States, carpetbagger is a largely historical pejorative used by Southerners to describe allegedly opportunistic or disruptive Northerners who came to the Southern states after the American Civil War and were pe ...

s, led by U.S. Senator Thomas W. Osborn, supported the

freedman 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- ...

Robert Meacham Robert Meacham (1835–1902) was an educational, religious and political leader in Florida during and after Reconstruction era of the United States, Reconstruction. An African-American, he was a slave in Quincy, Florida; one of the sons of his ...

, while the majority of black delegates were split between several more radical black candidates, including Walls. Walls won the nomination on the 11th ballot, after the other black candidates withdrew to prevent Meacham from winning. Walls went on to win the 1870 general election and serve in the

42nd Congress The 42nd 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, 1871, ...

, but the vote was contested by Democrat Silas L. Niblack. The

House Committee on Elections The United States House Committee on Elections is a former standing committee of the United States House of Representatives. Article 1, section 5, of the Constitution of the United States specifies: "Each House shall be the Judge of the Elections, ...

eventually unseated Walls after finding election irregularities. Walls ran for the at-large congressional seat again in the 1872 election and won. In office, Walls introduced bills to establish a national education fund and aid pensioners and

Seminole War The Seminole Wars (also known as the Florida Wars) were a series of three military conflicts between the United States and the Seminoles that took place in Florida between about 1816 and 1858. The Seminoles are a Native American nation which co ...

Veterans. In 1874, Walls ran for re-election to Congress in the newly redistricted 2nd district. Walls won the election but Democrat Jesse J. Finley, a former Confederate colonel, contested the results of the election. Finley was eventually declared the winner by the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives.

Return to state politics

Walls again sought the Republican nomination for the 2nd congressional district in 1876. After the black delegates split between Walls and another black candidate, the nomination went to a “white carpetbagger”, Horatio Bisbee. Walls instead ran for his old state senate seat, and served a four-year term. He lost re-election in 1880.

Legal career

Walls was admitted to the

bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar ** Chocolate bar * Protein bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a laye ...

in Alachua County in April 1873. He served as

mayor of Gainesville The Mayor of Gainesville is, for ceremonially purposes, receipt of service of legal processes and the purposes of military law, official head of the city of Gainesville, Florida and otherwise a member of, and chair of, the city commission, requi ...

although the exact dates are unknown; he resigned on 1 September 1873 and was succeeded by a white Republican, Watson Porter. In June 1874, Walls formed a law partnership in Gainesville with Henry S. Harmon, who had been the first African-American admitted to the bar in Florida, and William U. Saunders. The next year Harmon and Saunders moved their legal practice to

Tallahassee Tallahassee ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat of and the only incorporated municipality in Leon County. Tallahassee became the capital of Florida, then the Florida Territory, in 1824. In 2024, the est ...

Later life

Leaving politics, Walls operated a successful farm in Alachua County until the disastrous freeze of 1894–1895, which destroyed his crops. He took a teaching position as Farm Director of the State Normal and Industrial College for Colored Students, which much later would become

Florida A&M University Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU), commonly known as Florida A&M, is a Public university, public Historically black colleges and universities, historically black land-grant university in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. ...

, in Tallahassee. After nearly a decade there, he died on May 5, 1905.