Long, Jefferson Franklin, 1836-1901

<p>Jefferson Franklin Long (March 3, 1836 – February 4, 1901) was an American politician from Georgia. He was the second African American sworn into the US House of Representatives, and the first African-American congressman from Georgia. He was the only African American to represent Georgia until Andrew Young was elected in 1972. Long was the first African-American Representative to speak on the floor of the U.S. House, opposing the Amnesty Bill that exempted former Confederates serving in the House from swearing allegiance to the Constitution.</p>

<p>Long was born a slave by a slave mother and a white father near the city of Knoxville in Crawford County, Georgia on March 3, 1836. He taught himself to read and write, an illegal act for slaves. Long became a successful merchant tailor in Macon, Georgia. Long was elected as a Republican to the Forty-first Congress to fill the vacancy caused when the U.S. House declared Samuel F. Gove not entitled to the seat and served from January 16, 1871 to March 3, 1871. Long was not a candidate for renomination in 1870 because of anti-Reconstruction efforts by the white-majority Georgia GOP, but did serve as a delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1880.</p>

<p>Despite Long's brief tenure in the U.S. House of Representatives, he was able to promote several Reconstruction efforts. He resumed business in Macon, Georgia, and died there on February 4, 1901. He was interred in Linwood Cemetery.</p>

LONG, Jefferson Franklin, a Representative from Georgia; born a slave near Knoxville, Crawford County, Ga., March 3, 1836; self-educated; became a merchant tailor in Macon, Ga.; elected as a Republican to the Forty-first Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the House declaring Samuel F. Gove not entitled to the seat on December 22, 1870; served from January 16, 1871 to March 3, 1871; was not a candidate for renomination in 1870; delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1880; resumed business in Macon, Ga., and died there February 4, 1901; interment in Lynwood Cemetery.

<p>The second African American elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, Jefferson Long served less than three months—the shortest term of any African–American Member—but nevertheless became the first black Member to speak on the House Floor. Speaking against the Amnesty Bill, which restored political rights to most former Confederates, Long pleaded with his colleagues to acknowledge the atrocities being committed by white supremacists in Georgia. “Do we, then, really propose here to–day … when loyal men dare not carry the ‘stars and stripes’ through our streets … to relieve from political disability the very men who have committed these Kuklux [sic] outrages?” he declared on the House Floor. “I think that I am doing my duty to my constituents and my duty to my country when I vote against such a proposition.”</p>

<p>Jefferson Long was born to a slave mother on March 3, 1836, in Knoxville, a small town in west–central Georgia. Long’s father was believed to have been the son of a local white man. Defying the law, Long learned to read and write. Trained as a tailor, he opened a successful business in Macon, Georgia, after his emancipation following the end of the Civil War. Most of his clients were white, as they were the only rural Georgians able to afford custom–made clothing. Shortly after the war, Long married Lucinda Carhart, and they raised seven children. One of Long’s sons helped run his business.</p>