O'Hara, James Edward, 1844-1905

James Edward O'Hara (February 26, 1844 – September 15, 1905) was an American politician and attorney who in 1882, after Reconstruction, was the second African American to be elected to Congress from North Carolina. He was born in New York City to parents of mixed-race West Indian and Irish ancestry and was raised in the West Indies. As a young man, he traveled to the southern United States after the American Civil War with religious missionaries from the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, an independent black denomination, to help freedmen establish independent lives and new congregations. O'Hara became active in politics, being elected as a Republican to local and state offices.

O'Hara passed the bar in North Carolina in 1873 and started a law practice there. In 1878, he ran for Congress and won, but his white opponent was ruled the winner by corrupt public officials. In 1882, O'Hara was elected as a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from North Carolina's 2nd congressional district, where there was a black majority. He served two terms. After being defeated in the 1886 election, he returned to his law practice.