Haralson, Jeremiah, 1846-c. 1916

<p>Admired by his contemporaries as a natural politician, Jeremiah Haralson made his reputation in Alabama politics as a powerful orator and an adroit debater. Black civil rights advocate Frederick Douglass observed that Haralson spoke “with humor enough in him to supply a half dozen circus clowns.”1 However, a Democratic majority during his single congressional term tempered his public wit; he made no speeches on the House Floor. Haralson’s unsuccessful re–election campaign in 1876 set off a series of difficult and fruitless attempts to regain his seat in the Jim Crow South, ending a political career marked by mystery and contradiction. Jeremiah Haralson was born a slave near Columbus, Georgia, on April 1, 1846. His early life is not well documented. He was sold twice as a child before John Haralson, a lawyer from Selma, Alabama, purchased him in 1859. After winning his freedom in 1865, Jeremiah Haralson taught himself to read and write. He made his living as a farmer and may also have been a clergyman. Haralson married Ellen Norwood in 1870 and had one son, Henry.</p>

<p>Throughout his career, Haralson demonstrated a natural shrewdness and a gift for politics, yet contemporaries described him as forceful, “uncompromising, irritating, and bold.” Haralson’s party loyalty spanned the political spectrum throughout his early career. Likely drawn to politics because of his oratorical talent, he reportedly became a Democrat in 1867—an unusual move given the Democratic Party’s affiliation with former Confederates and slaveholders. Haralson campaigned for Democratic presidential candidate Horatio Seymour in 1868, claiming his allegiance to the Democrats stemmed from loyalty to his former master and from the uncertain future of the Republican Party in the South, then dominated by carpetbaggers and former Union soldiers. However, Haralson may have acted as a double agent. By some accounts, his speeches backing Seymour were insincere, and he used private conversations afterward to sway listeners to the Republican ticket. Despite being too young to meet the constitutional requirement to serve in the U.S. House, the ambitious Haralson made his first unsuccessful bid for Congress at age 22 in 1868. By 1869, Haralson had formally switched parties. He publicly allied himself with the Republicans, claiming that the Democrats had failed to attract the newly enfranchised freedmen. However, just one year later he successfully ran as an Independent for the state house of representatives, marking the beginning of a trend toward third–party candidacy, to which he would adhere for his entire political career. In 1870, Haralson was chosen to preside over the Republican Party’s district convention, at which Benjamin S. Turner—the first African American from Alabama to serve in Congress—was nominated. By 1872, when he was elected a Republican member of the Alabama state senate, Haralson seemed firmly in the GOP camp. After successfully navigating a civil rights bill through the state senate, his political power soared. One local newspaper observed, “He is perhaps feared more than any other colored man in the legislature in Alabama.”</p>

<p>Jeremiah Haralson (April 1, 1846 – 1916?), was a politician from Alabama who was among the first ten African-American Congressmen elected in the United States. Born into slavery in Columbus, Georgia, Haralson became self-educated while enslaved in Selma, Alabama. He was a leader among freedmen after the American Civil War.</p>

<p>He became active in politics, being elected as a Republican to the State House and the State Senate from Dallas County, Alabama. He was elected and served in the United States House of Representatives, representing Alabama's 1st congressional district in the 44th United States Congress.</p>

<p>The conservative Democrats gained control of the state legislature and gerrymandered several districts. In 1876 Haralson was forced to run from the changed Alabama's 4th congressional district, the only one still having a majority-black population. Running as an independent against the Republican candidate, James T. Rapier, Haralson essentially split the Republican vote. Dallas County Sheriff Charles M. Shelley, a Democrat, won the seat with 38% of the vote.</p>

<p>Although not successful in gaining elective office again, Haralson was appointed to Republican patronage positions in the Customs Service, Department of Interior, and the Pension Bureau in Washington, DC. After 1884 he returned to the South. He was convicted of pension fraud in 1894, and seemingly vanishes from the historical record upon imprisonment in New York.</p>

HARALSON, Jeremiah, a Representative from Alabama; born on a plantation near Columbus, Muscogee County, Ga., April 1, 1846; raised as a slave; self-educated; moved to Alabama and engaged in agricultural pursuits; became a minister; member of the State house of representatives in 1870; served in the State senate in 1872; unsuccessful candidate for election in 1868 to the Forty-first Congress; elected as a Republican to the Forty-fourth Congress (March 4, 1875-March 3, 1877); appointed to a Federal position in the United States customhouse in Baltimore, Md.; later employed as a clerk in the Interior Department; appointed August 12, 1882, to the Pension Bureau in Washington, D.C., and resigned August 21, 1884; moved to Louisiana, where he engaged in agricultural pursuits, and thence to Arkansas in 1904; served as pension agent for a short time; returned to Alabama and settled in Selma in 1912; moved to Texas and later to Oklahoma and Colorado and engaged in coal mining in the latter State; killed by wild beasts near Denver, Colo., about 1916.

<p>Jeremiah Haralson (1846-1916) was a clergyman, politician, powerful orator, and debater who served in the Alabama House of Representatives (1870-1872) and Senate (1872-1874) and the U.S. Congress (March 4, 1875-March 3, 1877). He was the third African American Republican congressman from Alabama, combated a Democratic majority in the House of Representatives, and fought against Jim Crow politics in the South during Reconstruction. As a result of his contentious relationship with Republicans, his contemporaries described him as uncompromising, irritating, and bold.</p>

<p>Haralson was born into slavery on a plantation in Muscogee County near Columbus, Georgia, on April 1, 1846, but little is known about his early life. During childhood, he was sold twice before John Haralson, a lawyer from Selma, Dallas County, purchased him in 1859. Alabama ratified the 13th Amendment on December 2, 1865, which mandated Haralson's freedom. He taught himself to read and write and worked as a farmer and minister and became an influential civic leader.</p>

<p>In 1867, Haralson began his political career as a Democrat, which reportedly stemmed from a loyalty to his former owner and uncertainty regarding the future of the Republican Party in the South. He campaigned for Democratic presidential candidate Horatio Seymour in 1868 but was accused by former Confederates and Democratic officials of being insincere in his support and secretly swaying support to Republicans. He also made an unsuccessful bid for Congress as a Democrat in 1868, despite being too young to meet the constitutional age requirement. By 1869, Haralson had allied himself with the Republican Party after Democrats aligned themselves with former Confederates and failed to attract the support of freedmen. He told a meeting of prominent African American politicians in New Orleans that if he were forced to choose between Democrats and Republicans, he would choose the latter, given their support for African American suffrage and Emancipation. Yet, the following year he was elected as an Independent to the Alabama House of Representatives, thus beginning a career-long tendency to run as a third-party candidate.</p>