Richard Burke (1807 or 1808 - 1870) was a Baptist preacher and

state representative A state legislature is a legislative branch or body of a political subdivision in a federal system. Two federations literally use the term "state legislature": * The legislative branches of each of the fifty state governments of the United Sta ...

in Alabama. He was involved in the Union League. A few nights after a political meeting of African Americans, he was murdered. In Sumter County numerous African American Union League members were shot. Burke was born in Virginia. Burke established a school for African Americans in

Sumter County, Alabama Sumter County is a county located in the west central portion of Alabama."ACES Winston County Office" (links/history), Alabama Cooperative Extension System (ACES), 2007, webpageACES-Sumter At the 2020 census, the population was 12,345. Its cou ...

and represented the county in the

Alabama House of Representatives The Alabama State House of Representatives is the lower house of the Alabama Legislature, the state legislature of state of Alabama. The House is composed of 105 members representing an equal number of districts, with each constituency contai ...

in 1869 and 1870. Turner Reavis owned Burke when he was enslaved and testified about his activity at the political meeting and his murder during hearing in the U.S. Congress investigating activities of the

Ku Klux Klan The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist, right-wing terrorist, and hate group whose primary targets are African Americans, Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and ...

.Freedom's Lawmakers by Eric Foner Louisiana Staye University Press (1996) page 32

References

Year of birth missing 1870 deaths 1800s births Baptists from Alabama Baptist ministers from the United States 19th-century American politicians People from Sumter County, Alabama Assassinated American politicians American former slaves African-American state legislators in Alabama {{Alabama-politician-stub Assassinated American State House representatives

See also

References