Benjamin F. Royal
Benjamin F. Royal was a state senator in Alabama during the Reconstruction era. He was elected to the state senate in 1868, and was the first African American to serve in the chamber.[1] He represented Bullock County and served for nine years.[2][3] He served as a Republican, and had stated that "he could as well be an infidel as to be anything else than a Republican".[4] He was a Union League organizer.[5]
He was born to a white father and a mother who had been a slave.[3]
In 1872, he and other Alabama state senators were photographed on the capitol steps. The photograph is held by the Alabama Department of Archives and History.[6]
References[edit]
- ^ "Alabama Senate". Encyclopedia of Alabama.
- ^ "African-American Legislators in Reconstruction Alabama" (PDF). Alabama Department of Archives and History. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 August 2022. Retrieved 28 February 2021.
- ^ a b "Race no barrier to those who love". The Montgomery Advertiser. 7 June 1995. p. 15. Retrieved 28 February 2021.
- ^ "Senator B. F. Royal if Bullock". The Weekly Huntsville Advocate. 4 December 1873. p. 2. Retrieved 28 February 2021.
- ^ Bailey, Richard (2010). Neither Carpetbaggers nor Scalawags: Black Officeholders During the Reconstruction of Alabama, 1867-1878. ISBN 9781588381897.
- ^ "Archives/Five: 1872 Alabama Senate Reconstruction Photograph (Video) | Alabama Blogs & Entertainment".
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