Ex~s1ave Stories	Page Two
(Texas)







	tIThe city was one procession of men in blue ard the air was full of inarti~1 music. The fife and drum could be kieard almost all the time, so Tďou may imagine what emotions a colored person of my age wotid erperience, espec-~ ially as fatherts church was a center for congregating the Negroes and advis~ ing them. That was a difficult task, because a 1ar~e majority were illiterate and ignorant.

	“The year father w~ called to Charleston, South Carolina, to take charge of a church, we became the center of considerable trouble. It was right after the close of the war, In addition to hi~ ministerial duties, father managed a newspaper and became interested in politics. He ~vas elect~d a delegate to the Constitutional Convention of South Carolina in 1368. He was also elected a Republican member of the State Senate and served from 1863 to 1872. Then he became the republican candidate for the United States Representative of the Charleston district, was elected and served in the 4F5th Cngress from March 4, 1877 to March 3, 1879.

	“You can imagine the bitter ~nflict his candidacy brought on. A Negro running for public office against a white person in a Southern state that was strong for slavery does not seem the sensible thing for a man to do, hut he did and was, of course, successful. From the moment he beca~e delegate to the Con— stitutional Convention a guard was necessary ni~ht and day to watch our home. He was compelled to have a bodyg~iard wherever he went. I~1e, his family, lived in constant fear at all times. Many times mother pleaded with him to cease his activities, bu.t her pleadings were of no avail.

01n the beginning the resentment was not so pronounced. The white people