Blanche Bruce

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Blanche Kelso Bruce

United States Senator (Class I), Mississippi
In office January 1875 – January, 1881
Preceded by	Henry Pease
Succeeded by	James Z. George

Born	March 1, 1841 Farmville, Virginia
Died	March 17, 1898 Washington, D.C.
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Josephine Willson

Blanche Kelso Bruce (March 1, 1841 – March 17, 1898) was an American politician. Bruce represented Mississippi as a U.S. Senator from 1875 to 1881 and was the first black to serve a full term in the Senate.

[edit] Biography

Bruce was born in Farmville, Virginia to Pettis Perkinson, a white Virginia plantation owner, and a black house slave named Polly Bruce. He was treated "tenderly" and was educated just as his legitimate half-brother was.

In 1850, Bruce moved to Missouri after becoming a printer's apprentice. After the Union Army rejected his application to fight in the Civil War, Bruce taught school and briefly attended Oberlin College in Ohio before working as a steamboat porter on the Mississippi River. In 1864, he moved to Hannibal, Missouri, where he established Missouri's first school for blacks.

During Reconstruction, Bruce became a wealthy landowner in Mississippi and was appointed to the positions of Tallahatchie County registrar of voters and tax assessor before winning an election for sheriff in Bolivar County. He later was elected to other county positions, including tax collector and supervisor of education, while also editing a local newspaper. In February 1874, Bruce was elected by the state Legislature to the Senate as a Republican. In 1880, James Z. George was elected to succeed Bruce.

In 1881, Bruce was appointed by President James Garfield to be the register of the Treasury, making Bruce the first black whose signature was represented on U.S. currency. Bruce served as the District of Columbia recorder of deeds in 1891-93, and again register of the Treasury until his death in 1898.