Who was Blanche K. Bruce, the last Black US senator from Mississippi?

When Scott Collom is sworn in as the next U.S. senator from Mississippi, he will become the third Black -- and the first since 1881 -- to represent the Magnolia State in the upper chamber of Congress.

He also becomes the first Black Democrat elected to the Senate from Mississippi and the first elected by the popular vote. The first two -- Hiram Revels and Blanche K. Bruce -- were Republicans and were chosen by the state Legislature. Collom will have some large shoes to fill, as Bruce was a trailblazer during the Reconstruction era.

Revels was the first Black to serve in the Senate, but he only held office from 1870 to 1871. Blanche was selected by the Mississippi Legislature in 1874, and he became the first Black from the state to serve a full six-year term in the Senate.

The Associated Press called the race for Colom, who defeated incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith just before 6 p.m. ET Wednesday, clinching a historic win. It marked the first time a Democrat had won a Senate race in Mississippi since 1982, when John Stennis won reelection.

Here is what to know about Bruce.

Humble beginnings

Blanche Kelso Bruce was born near Farmville, Virginia, on March 1, 1841, according to his biography. He was the son of Polly Bruce, a slave, and the white owner of the plantation where she lived, Pettus Perkinson.

Bruce was taught to read by Perkinson’s son, William. In 1849, Pettus Perkinson moved to Mississippi, where young Bruce picked cotton and “endured cruel punishments,” including whippings.

The following year, Perkinson moved to Missouri, and in 1862, Bruce escaped to Lawrence, Kansas, described as “a haven for abolitionists” before the Civil War.

Education

Bruce taught at a small Black school during the war, and in 1864 he organized the first school for Black students in Missouri, opening a facility in Hannibal.

In 1866, Bruce traveled to Ohio and attended Oberlin College, but he ran out of money by the following year and returned to Missouri.

In St. Louis, Blanche served as a porter on the steamer Columbia, which traveled between St. Louis and Council Bluffs, Iowa.

Entering politics

Blanche moved to Mississippi in 1869 and became a member of the Republican Party. He was appointed as registrar of voters in Tallahatchie County, and in late 1870 he was elected sergeant at arms for the state senate.

Bruce’s star continued to rise, as he was elected to the joint office of sheriff and tax collector in Bolivar County in 1871. The following year, the state board of education appointed him Bolivar County’s superintendent of education.

Also in 1872, Bruce was named to the board of levee commissioners and oversaw three counties.

Elected to Senate

On Feb. 4, 1874, the state Legislature overwhelmingly elected Bruce to serve a full six-year term in the Senate as a member of the 44th Congress. He was 34 and the second-youngest member of Congress behind Sen. Stephen Dorsey Wallace of Arkansas.

Already famous in Mississippi for his political connections and his business savvy in becoming a wealthy planter, Bruce was beginning to get noticed nationwide.

The Leavenworth Times described him as “a large-sized man, of fine personal appearance, with a face bespeaking intelligence.”

While the newspaper noted that Bruce “was not a fine orator,” it reported that he was “a fair talker, able to make a good comprehensive argument.”

Tradition dictated that when a senator was to be sworn in, the senior senator from that state would escort him to the podium. But in 1875, Sen. James Lusk Alcorn refused, and Bruce walked up the aisle himself until Sen. Roscoe Conkling of New York offered to escort him.

That alliance with Conkling -- a powerful Republican senator -- allowed Bruce to get appointments to several Senate committees, including seats on the Committee on Education and Labor, the Committee on Manufactures, and the Committee on Pensions.

Policies

Bruce was an advocate for Black civil and political rights as well as federal investment in the economic development of Mississippi.

He also chaired the Mississippi delegation to the 1876 Republican National Convention and campaigned for the nominee and eventual winner, Rutherford B. Hayes, in Mississippi and Louisiana.

Bruce also fought for the rights of Blacks who served in the U.S. military and sought back pay for soldiers.

Did not seek reelection

In 1878, Bruce married Josephine Beal Willson. Their first son, born in 1879, was named after Bruce’s mentor -- Roscoe Conkling Bruce.

On Feb. 14, 1879, Bruce became the first Black senator to preside over a Senate session during debate on a bill restricting people who wanted to emigrate from China.

In 1880, he made a speech that criticized federal policy toward Native Americans, arguing that relations between tribes and the federal government needed to improve.

With the end of federal Reconstruction policies by 1878, Bruce believed his safety in Mississippi had been compromised and did not return to the state. He also decided not to seek reelection in 1880.

After the Senate

Bruce remained active after leaving the Senate.

He was appointed as Register of the Treasury by President James A. Garfield in 1881 and served as the recorder of deeds for the District of Columbia from 1891 to 1893. He reprised his role as Register of the Treasury from 1897 until his death in Washington, D.C., on March 19, 1898.

He is buried at Woodlawn Cemetery in Washington, a segregated burial site.

Legacy

Bruce’s death brought out tributes, with some editorial writers comparing him to famed Black orator and abolitionist Frederick Douglass.

“He was a man that was true to every trust,” The Washington Times reported.

“The race loses one of its brightest, ablest, and most distinguished men,” the Baltimore Ledger observed.

“Next after Fred Douglass, Mr. Bruce has long been regarded as, perhaps, the most conspicuous man of his race,” one wire service obituary stated.

Information from newspaper and government archives were used to compile this report.

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