From the author of the acclaimed Invisible Generals comes the unsung history of the first Black US senators—two men who overcame fierce resistance to help America forge a multiracial democracy.

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In 1870—a mere five years after the Civil War ended—Hiram Revels became the first Black US senator sworn into office. Abolitionist Wendell Phillips proclaimed him “the Fifteenth Amendment in flesh and blood.” During his tenure, Revels would fight for civil rights, public education, and birthright citizenship. Blanche K. Bruce followed in Revels’s footsteps, introducing pivotal legislation to secure back pay for Black veterans and promoting infrastructure projects to help reunite the North and South. Bruce would go on to become the register of the treasury, the first Black American to have his signature appear on US currency.

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Revels and Bruce faced fierce opposition from within both major political parties, and the emergence of the Ku Klux Klan and Jim Crow laws further eroded Blacks’ momentum. When Bruce’s term ended, there wouldn’t be another Black US senator for eighty-six years. A systematic campaign of diminishment reduced the accomplishments of Revels, Bruce, and their Reconstruction-era peers to the point of obscurity.

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Invisible Senators is a surprising, clear-eyed, and inspiring tribute that restores Revels and Bruce to their rightful place in US history. Their powerful story compels us to reflect on the progress they made and to recognize the ongoing struggles for justice in America—moving us to continue building the inclusive democracy that they began.

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Invisible Senators

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