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 GLC09400.012
From Archive Folder Collection of letters of the first African American to serve a full term in the Senate 
Title M.E. Tilley to Blanche Kelso Bruce asking the Senator for support in being re-appointed to her job
Date 6 June 1875
Author Tilley, Mrs. M.E.(fl. 1875)  
Recipient Kelso Bruce, Blanche  
Document Type Correspondence
Content Description This letter from Mrs. Tilly covers a few topics. The major topic is her asking the Senator for support in being re-appointed to her job, at a higher salary on the 1st of July. She asks the Senator to remember her, and put in a good word in for her. Tilley also remarks on the weather in Washington D.C. She also briefly mentions a robbery at the treasury that was recently in the newspapers.
Subjects African American History  African Americans in Government  Congress  Reconstruction  Government and Civics  Debt  Politics  Woman Author  Women's History  Office Seeker  Letter of Introduction or Recommendation  Crime  Washington, D.C.  
People Bruce, Blanche Kelso (1841-1898)  Tilley, Mrs. M.E. (fl. 1875)  
Place written Washington, D.C.
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