Simeon W. Beard was an American minister, teacher, and politician who worked in

Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the List of municipalities in South Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint of South Carolina's coastline on Charleston Harbor, an inlet of the Atla ...

and then in

Augusta, Georgia Augusta is a city on the central eastern border of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. The city lies directly across the Savannah River from North Augusta, South Carolina at the head of its navigable portion. Augusta, the third mos ...

. He served in the Union Army. He was a delegate to Georgia's constitutional convention in 1867 and 1868.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 14 and 15 African American legislators were expelled from office in Georgia. Beard was a member of the Union Waiter's Society. He taught in

before returning to Augusta. His school in Charleston was established in the antebellum period. Beard's classes were relatively expensive and well supplied. He was part of the Georgia delegation, along with Georgia Governor

Rufus Bullock Rufus Brown Bullock (March 28, 1834 – April 27, 1907) was an American politician and businessman from Georgia. A Republican, he served as the state's governor during the Reconstruction Era. He called for equal economic opportunity and political ...

who met with the U.S. president. He read the

Declaration of Independence A declaration of independence is an assertion by a polity in a defined territory that it is independent and constitutes a state. Such places are usually declared from part or all of the territory of another state or failed state, or are breaka ...

and

Emancipation Proclamation The Emancipation Proclamation, officially Proclamation 95, was a presidential proclamation and executive order issued by United States President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, during the American Civil War. The Proclamation had the eff ...

at a Freedmen's Celebration. He addressed an 1870 meeting of Republicans. The ''Sweetwater Enterprise'' described him as a bright

mulatto ( , ) is a Race (human categorization), racial classification that refers to people of mixed Sub-Saharan African, African and Ethnic groups in Europe, European ancestry only. When speaking or writing about a singular woman in English, the ...

and a fanatic. It noted his calls to arm Black militias to protect African Americans. In 1867 he compared the American Civil War to the Biblical account of the

parting of the Red Sea The Parting of the Red Sea or Crossing of the Red Sea (, lit. "parting of the sea of reeds") is an episode in The Exodus, a foundational story in the Hebrew Bible. It tells of the escape of the Israelites, led by Moses, from the pursuing Egypt ...

in Egypt to make way for freedom for the Jews. He partnered with white

Freedmen's Bureau The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, usually referred to as simply the Freedmen's Bureau, was a U.S. government agency of early post American Civil War Reconstruction, assisting freedmen (i.e., former enslaved people) in the ...

agent John Bryant to establish the ''Loyal Georgian'' newspaper. He was literate. Emily Edson Briggs described his appearance and wrote that "his words burn as if they had been forged in a redhot furnace."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beard, Simeon 19th-century South Carolina politicians Year of birth missing Year of death missing 19th-century American writers Clergy from Charleston, South Carolina Schoolteachers from South Carolina African-American people in Georgia (U.S. state) politics

See also

References