Blanche Bruce

Blanche Bruce
Register of the Treasury
In office
December 3, 1897 – March 17, 1898
PresidentWilliam McKinley
Preceded byFount Tillman
Succeeded byJudson Lyons
In office
May 21, 1881 – June 5, 1885
PresidentJames A. Garfield
Chester A. Arthur
Grover Cleveland
Preceded byGlenni Scofield
Succeeded byWilliam Rosecrans
United States Senator
from Mississippi
In office
March 4, 1875 – March 4, 1881
Preceded byHenry R. Pease
Succeeded byJames Z. George
Personal details
Born
Blanche Kelso Bruce

(1841-03-01)March 1, 1841
Farmville, Virginia, U.S.
DiedMarch 17, 1898(1898-03-17) (aged 57)
Washington, D.C., U.S.
Resting placeWoodlawn Cemetery
Political partyRepublican
SpouseJosephine Willson
ChildrenRoscoe
EducationOberlin College
Signature

Blanche Kelso Bruce (March 1, 1841 – March 17, 1898) was an American politician who represented Mississippi as a Republican in the United States Senate from 1875 to 1881. Born into slavery in Prince Edward County, Virginia, he went on to become the first elected African-American senator to serve a full term (Hiram R. Revels, also of Mississippi, was the first African American to serve in the U.S. Senate but did not complete a full term).[1]

He was appointed as Recorder of Deeds in Washington D.C. during Benjamin Harrison's presidency. His home, the Blanche K. Bruce House, is a National Historic Landmark.

  1. ^ Wilson, J. G.; Fiske, J., eds. (1900). "Bruce, Blanche Kelso" . Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. New York: D. Appleton.