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Collection Reference Number GLC09400.094.01
From Archive Folder Collection of letters of the first African American to serve a full term in the Senate 
Title Ed Bruce to Blanche Kelso Bruce writing in regards to a house in Missouri
Date 12 May 1879
Author Bruce, Ed (fl. 1879)  
Recipient Kelso Bruce, Blanche  
Document Type Correspondence
Content Description Ed, Senator Bruce's brother is writing in regards to a house in Missouri that he wants to purchase from Bruce. He asks that he be allowed to rent the farm at 75 dollars per year, and he will make a payment to purchase the house as soon as he can. Ed says if the Senator cannot sell or allow him to rent he will have to go with his family west where land is cheaper.
Subjects African American History  African Americans in Government  Congress  Reconstruction  Government and Civics  Land Transaction  Landlord and Tenant  Finance  Westward Expansion  Children and Family  Immigration and Migration  
People Bruce, Blanche Kelso (1841-1898)  Bruce, Ed (fl. 1879)  
Place written Brunswick, Missouri
Theme Government & Politics; African Americans; Children & Family
Sub-collection The Gilder Lehrman Collection, 1860-1945
Additional Information Blanche Kelso Bruce was born into slavery near Farmville, Prince Edward County, Va. on March 1 1841. He was tutored by his master's son, but left his master at the beginning of the civil war and taught school in Hannibal Mo. After the civil war Bruce became a planter in Mississippi, and a member of the Mississippi Levee Board, and Sheriff and Tax Collector for Bolivar County from 1872-1875. Bruce was then elected as a Republican to the United States Senate, where he served from March 4 1875 - March 3 1881. Bruce was the first African American to serve a full term in the U.S. Senate. In 1881 Bruce was appointed by President James Garfield as the Register of the Treasury. Bruce then went on to serve as the Recorder of Deeds for the District of Colombia from 1891-1893, returning to the office of Register of the Treasury from 1897 until his death on March 17, 1898.
Copyright The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
Module Civil War, Reconstruction and the Modern Era: 1860-1945
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