The "Original 33" were the first 33 African-American members of the Georgia General Assembly. They were elected to office in 1868, during the Reconstruction era. They were among the first African-American state legislators in the United States. Twenty-four of the members were ministers. Upon taking office, white Democrats, then a minority in the Assembly, conspired with enough white Republicans to expel the African-American legislators from the Assembly in September 1868. The next year, the Supreme Court of Georgia ruled that African Americans had the right to hold office in Georgia. The expelled legislators were reinstated and took office in January 1870. The 33 are commemorated in the sculpture '' Expelled Because of Color'' on the grounds of the Georgia State Capitol.

History

Elections in Georgia in 1868 were plagued by widespread Ku Klux Klan violence aimed at murdering or intimidating newly freed African Americans. Freedmen's Bureau officials in Georgia counted 336 cases of murder or assault with intent to kill against freedmen between January 1 and November 15. Still, 33 African Americans — 30 in the lower house, 3 in the state senate — were able to be elected in heavily Black areas, making up about one-sixth of the 197-member legislature. After losing votes for their preferred candidates for the U.S. Senate, the white majority conspired to remove the black and mixed-ethnicity members from the Assembly on the grounds they were ineligible to hold office under the Georgia Constitution. Most of the black delegates to the state's post-war constitutional convention voted against including into the constitution the right of black legislators to hold office, a vote which Rep.

Henry McNeal Turner Henry McNeal Turner (February 1, 1834 – May 8, 1915) was an American minister, politician, and the 12th elected and consecrated bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME). After the American Civil War, he worked to establish new A.M ...

came to regret. The members were expelled by September 1868. The ex-legislators petitioned the federal government and state courts to intervene. In '' White v. Clements'' (June 1869), the Supreme Court of Georgia ruled 2-1 that black people did, in fact, have a right to hold office in Georgia. In January 1870, commanding general of the District of Georgia Alfred H. Terry began "Terry's Purge", removing ex-Confederates in the General Assembly who had been elected through election violence or intimidation. He replaced them with Republican runners-up and reinstated the black legislators, resulting in a Republican majority in both houses. From that point, the General Assembly accomplished the ratification of the 15th Amendment, chose new senators to go to Washington, and adopted public education. The work of the Republican majority was short-lived, after the so-called " Redeemer" Democrats won majorities in both houses in December 1870. The Republican governor,

Rufus Bullock Rufus Brown Bullock (March 28, 1834 – April 27, 1907) was a Republican Party politician and businessman in Georgia. During the Reconstruction Era he served as the state's governor and called for equal economic opportunity and political rights f ...

, after trying and failing to reinstate federal military rule in Georgia, fled the state. After the Democrats took office they began to enact harsh recriminations against Republicans and African Americans, using terror, intimidation, and the Ku Klux Klan, leading to disenfranchisement by the 1890s. One quarter of the black legislators were killed, threatened, beaten, or jailed. The last African-American legislator, William H. Rogers, resigned in 1907. Afterwards, no African American held a seat in the Georgia legislature until

civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life o ...

attorney Leroy Johnson, a Democrat, was elected to the state senate in 1962.

List of legislators

At that time, each state senator in Georgia represented a single-member district made up of three contiguous counties, numbered from 1 to 44. Population was not considered when drawing state senate districts. Each state representative in Georgia represented a county, with counties having between one and three representatives depending on population.

Representatives

Eli Barnes Eli Barnes was a representative in the Georgia Assembly as a Republican Party (United States), Republican during the Reconstruction Era. A former slave who worked as a mechanic, he was African American. He was elected in 1868 and represented Ha ...

, Hancock County * James Ward Porter, Chatham County *

, Bibb County * William Guilford, Upson County *

William Henry Harrison William Henry Harrison (February 9, 1773April 4, 1841) was an American military officer and politician who served as the ninth president of the United States. Harrison died just 31 days after his inauguration in 1841, and had the shortest pres ...

, Hancock County * Thomas M. Allen, Jasper County *

Thomas Beard Thomas Beard (died 1632) was an English clergyman and theologian, of Puritan views. He is known as the author of ''The Theatre of Gods Judgements'', and the schoolmaster of Oliver Cromwell at Huntingdon. Life He was, it is believed, a native of ...

Richmond County Richmond County may refer to places: Australia *Richmond County, New South Wales, a cadastral division Canada *Richmond County, Nova Scotia United Kingdom *Richmondshire, the original Richmond County in Yorkshire, England United States ...

Edwin Belcher Edwin Belcher (born c. 1845) was an officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War, a Freedmen Bureau official in Monroe County, Georgia after the war, and then a state senator in the Georgia Legislature representing Wilkes County, Geor ...

, Wilkes County * George H. Clower, Monroe County * Abram Colby, Greene County *

Romulus Moore Reverend Romulus Moore (January 1818 - before 1888) was a politician and leader of the early civil rights movement after the American Civil War during the Reconstruction Era in the U.S. state of Georgia. An African American, Moore was elected to ...

, Columbia County *

John T. Costin John T. Costin was a Republican Party organizer, a member of the Georgia Legislature, and a minister in Georgia, United States, during the Reconstruction Era (1863 or 1865 - 1877). Costin helped form the Republican Party of Georgia He met with U ...

, Talbot County *

Madison Davis Madison "Mat" Davis (September 27, 1833 – August 20, 1902) was a slave who became a member of the Georgia Assembly representing Clarke County, Georgia and the first African American postmaster in Athens, Georgia, after being emancipated. He w ...

Clarke County Clarke County may refer to: ;Places *One of five counties in the United States: **Clarke County, Alabama **Clarke County, Georgia **Clarke County, Iowa **Clarke County, Mississippi **Clarke County, Virginia Clarke County is a county in the Com ...

* Monday Floyd, Morgan County *

F. H. Fyall F. H. Fyall was a state Representative in the U.S. state of Georgia during the Reconstruction era. He was one of the Original 33 African Americans elected as legislators in Georgia. He was owned as a slave earlier in his life. His eligibility t ...

, Macon County *

Samuel Gardner Samuel Gardner (August 25, 1891, Kropyvnytskyi, Elizavetgrad – January 23, 1984) was an American composer and violinist of Russian Jewish origin. He won a Pulitzer prize with a string quartet in 1918. He was a student of Franz Kneisel and Percy ...

Warren County Warren County is the name of fourteen counties in the USA. Some are named after General Joseph Warren, who was killed in the Battle of Bunker Hill in the American Revolutionary War: * Warren County, Georgia * Warren County, Illinois * Warren County ...

* William A. Golden, Liberty County * Ulysses L. Houston, Bryan County * James M. Simms, Chatham County * Philip Joiner, Dougherty County * George Linder, Laurens County *

Robert Lumpkin The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honou ...

, Macon County * Peter O'Neal, Baldwin County * Alfred Richardson,

* Alexander Stone, Jefferson County * Abraham Smith,

Muscogee County Muscogee County is a county located on the central western border of the U.S. state of Georgia; its western border with the state of Alabama is formed by the Chattahoochee River. As of the 2020 census, the population was 206,922. Its county se ...

John Warren John Warren may refer to: Medicine * John Warren (surgeon) (1753–1815), American surgeon during the Revolutionary War * John Collins Warren (1778–1856), American surgeon * John Collins Warren Jr. (1842–1927), American surgeon, son of John C ...

, Burke County * Samuel Williams, Harris County * Tunis Campbell Jr., McIntosh County * Malcolm Claiborn, Burke County

State Senators

* Rev. Tunis Campbell Sr., of McIntosh County, who also represented

Liberty Liberty is the ability to do as one pleases, or a right or immunity enjoyed by prescription or by grant (i.e. privilege). It is a synonym for the word freedom. In modern politics, liberty is understood as the state of being free within society fr ...

and Tattnall counties. These counties comprised District 2. * Aaron Alpeoria Bradley, of Chatham, who also represented Bryan and Effingham counties. These counties comprised District 1. * George Wallace, who represented

Hancock Hancock may refer to: Places in the United States * Hancock, Iowa * Hancock, Maine * Hancock, Maryland * Hancock, Massachusetts * Hancock, Michigan * Hancock, Minnesota * Hancock, Missouri * Hancock, New Hampshire ** Hancock (CDP), New Hampshir ...

, Baldwin, and

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

counties. These counties comprised District 20.

Recognition

In 1976, the Original 33 were honored by the Black Caucus of the Georgia General Assembly with a statue that depicts the rise of African-American politicians. It is on the grounds of the Georgia State Capitol in Atlanta. Inscribed on the base of Riddle's sculpture are the names of the 33 black pioneer legislators of the Georgia General Assembly elected and expelled in 1868 and reinstated in 1870 by an Act of Congress. The

Georgia Legislative Black Caucus The Georgia Legislative Black Caucus is the caucus of African-American members of the Georgia General Assembly. It was established in 1975, and is currently the largest caucus of black state legislators in the country in terms of members. History ...

continues to hold annual events honoring the Original 33.

References

{{Reflist , refs = {{cite book , title = Freedom's Shore , first = Russell , last = Duncan , publisher = University of Georgia Press , via = Internet Archive , page
54
, date = 1986 , accessdate = 2018-02-08 , url = https://archive.org/details/freedomsshoretun00dunc , url-access = registration , language = en , quote = {{Cite book , title = The Reconstruction of Georgia , first = Alan , last = Conway , via = Google Books , page = 165 , date = 1966 , publisher = University of Minnesota Press , isbn = 9780816657360 , accessdate = 2018-02-08 , url = https://books.google.com/books?id=c3p0KvKTB4AC&pg=PA165 , language = en {{Cite web , title = Journal of the Senate of the State of Georgia, at the Annual Session of the General Assembly , page = 137 , via = Google Books , date = January 10, 1870 , accessdate = 2018-02-08 , url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Du5AAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA137 , language = en , last1 = Senate , first1 = Georgia. General Assembly {{cite book , title = A Voting Rights Odyssey: Black Enfranchisement in Georgia , first = Laughlin , last = McDonald , via = Internet Archive , page
23
, publisher = Cambridge University Press , date = 2003 , accessdate = 2018-02-08 , url = https://archive.org/details/votingrightsodys0000mcdo , url-access = registration , language = en Georgia General Assembly African-American history of Georgia (U.S. state) History of racism in Georgia (U.S. state) African-American state legislators in Georgia (U.S. state) Racially motivated violence against African Americans 1868 in Georgia (U.S. state)