eel History
By David McMullen
Our Four Forgotten
Congressmen
Although serving the ‘Black Second* with distinction, the
names Hyman, 0*1 lara, Cheatham and White have gotten
little mention in state history books.
This month, alter an absence
ol almost a century, blacks
will again represent North
Carolina in the United States
( Congress.
When Warrcnton county com¬
missioner Eva Clayton of the 1st District
and Charlotte lawyer Melvin Watt ol the
I ‘2th District are sworn in later this
month, they will be the first black North
Carolinians to serve lull terms in the U.S.
House since 1901. It will reverse an injus¬
tice begun at the close of the last centu¬
ry. when red-shirted vigilantes rode the
night, terrorizing black voters, as white
Democrats in the Ceneral Assembly
passed “Jim Crow" legislation that rele¬
gated blacks to second-class citizenship.
Today, few North Carolinians remem¬
ber the names of our state's first four
black Congressmen. There is almost
nothing about these four men in most
of our public libraries. For most of the
20th century, they were ignored by
“white” history books. Recently, with
publication of the first four volumes of
a six-volume set of North Carolina
biographies by the University of North
Carolina Press, they have they been
rediscovered.
The four men — John
Л.
Hyman.
James E. O'Hara. Henry P. Cheatham
and George H. White — were elected to
Congress from the Second District, a dis¬
trict that included the counties of Bertie,
Vance. Craven. Edgecombe. Greene.
Halifax, Lenoir. Northampton, Warren
and Wilson. In the late- 1 ‘.It h Century,
white newspapers call it the “Black Sec¬
ond."
Many of the issues that these men sup¬
ported during their congressional ser¬
vice are still familiar — improving our
transportation systems, relief for veter¬
ans. aid to education and bank bailouts.
Other arc still unresolved, such as civil
rights and the preservation of black cul¬
ture.
John Adams Hyman, the state's fiist
black congressman, was born a slave in
Warrcnton in 18-10. Although he was
sold and moved to Alabama, after the
Civil Wai he returned to Warren Coun¬
ty, a small county northeast of Raleigh
on the Virginia line. There he began
farming for himself and opened a small
grocery store.
This was a time of Reconstruction,
when the foundation for a "New South"
was being built. It was also a time when
women were denied the vote and most
Confederate veterans were unable to
vote because their civil rights had not yet
been restored. And it was a time when
black men were given their first op¬
portunities for public service.
Hyman was a leader. Only three years
after his return to North Carolina, he
won a seat in the General Assembly,
where he served until he was elected to
the U.S. 1 louse in 1 874. 1 lc had also run
for Congress in 1872. but lost. In IN7(i
he failed to gain the nomination of the
Republican Party, ending his career as
an elected official. I Ie returned to War¬
rcnton, but because of financial prob¬
lems. he ultimately moved back to Wash¬
ington. D.C., where he worked for the
U.S. Postal Service and the Department
of Agriculture. He died there in 1891.
John Edward O’Hara lived a very dif¬
ferent life from that of Hyman. Born in
New York City in 1 844. he was the son of
an Irish seaman and a West Indian moth-
icobVn, oINC tk>lwa lil AKhoti Hituny
Henry Plummer Oieatham
The SUte/January 1993
George Hairy While
33
