The full content of this document is only available to subscribing institutions. More information can be found via www.amdigital.co.uk

Collection Reference Number GLC09400.069
From Archive Folder Collection of letters of the first African American to serve a full term in the Senate 
Title Kernan to Blanche Kelso Bruce stating that a rumor of Conkling being taken ill was false
Date 10 November 1879
Author Kernan, Francis (1816-1892))  
Recipient Kelso Bruce, Blanche  
Document Type Correspondence
Content Description A response to a telegram that Senator Bruce sent to Senator Kernan; possibly about an illness that Senator Conkling had contracted. The note says that the telegraph was received but Kernan was in New York, as was Conkling and that the rumor of Conkling's illness was false.
Subjects African American History  African Americans in Government  Congress  Reconstruction  Government and Civics  Health and Medical  
People Bruce, Blanche Kelso (1841-1898)  Kernan, Francis (1816-1892)  
Place written Utica, New York
Theme Government & Politics; African Americans
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