After the war was over and slavery abolished, Reconstruction was underway. Although there were challenges ahead, African Americans were filled with unprecedented hope. In 1867, Congress granted the right to vote to Black men in most of the South. In 1869, the 15th Amendment was passed (ratified in 1870), barring racial discrimination in voting. And with that, Black men took to the polls. Over the next several years, African American men moved into public leadership, including legislative positions. Two such stories belong to Hiram Revels and Robert Smalls. 

A truly historic moment occurred on February 25, 1870, as Hiram Revels became the first African American to serve in the U.S. Senate. Revels was an educator and minister, who had helped form regiments of African American soldiers during the Civil War. While he was serving in the Mississippi State Senate, he was appointed to fill a vacant seat in the United States Senate. Although his term was brief, Revels served as a symbol of hope in a post Civil War era. Born into slavery, Robert Smalls became a national hero and free man during the Civil War when he seized a Confederate vessel and sailed it to the U.S. Navy. Smalls continued to serve, fighting in more than a dozen engagements for the Union throughout the Civil War and helping to enlist other African Americans. In 1870, Robert Smalls was elected to the South Carolina State House of Representatives. In 1874, he was elected as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, serving for five terms.