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A Remarkable Event in the History of the National Congress -- The Hon. John Willis Menard, Colored Representative from Louisiana, Receiving the Congratulations of His Friends on the Floor of the House, Dec. 7th, 1868

A Remarkable Event in the History of the National Congress -- The Hon. John Willis Menard, Colored Representative from Louisiana, Receiving the Congratulations of His Friends on the Floor of the House, Dec. 7th, 1868/tiles/collection/3/34211.xml
A Remarkable Event in the History of the National Congress -- The Hon. John Willis Menard, Colored Representative from Louisiana, Receiving the Congratulations of His Friends on the Floor of the House, Dec. 7th, 1868/tiles/collection/3/35691.xml
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Date

1868-12-26

Publisher

Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper

Dimensions

15 13/16 × 11 in. (40.2 × 27.9 cm)

Accession Number

2020.067.000a

Credit Line

Collection of the U.S. House of Representatives

Object Details

In the late 1860s, illustrated news journals offered readers images of the changes in America brought by Reconstruction. The front page of one December 1868 issue shows a tantalizingly close step toward civil rights for African Americans. John Willis Menard, elected to Congress in November, stands on the floor of the House on December 7, accepting congratulations from new colleagues just before the start of the House session. But when Speaker Schuyler Colfax gaveled the House in, Menard was not part of the membership. Like many Black Members in the 19th century, his election was contested, and he was ultimately denied his seat by a vote of the House. At the time, though, the accompanying article wrote of the threshold on which the nation stood, and predicted that Menard “has a great future before him.”

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Office of the Historian: history@mail.house.gov
Office of Art & Archives, Office of the Clerk: art@mail.house.gov, archives@mail.house.gov