Richard H. Cain
Richard Harvey Cain | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives fromSouth Carolina | |
| In office March 4, 1877 – March 3, 1879 | |
| Preceded by | Charles W. Buttz |
| Succeeded by | Michael P. O'Connor |
| Constituency | 2nd district |
| In office March 4, 1873 – March 3, 1875 | |
| Preceded by | District created |
| Succeeded by | District eliminated |
| Constituency | at-large seat |
| Member of theSouth Carolina Senate fromCharleston County | |
| In office November 24, 1868 – March 1, 1870 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | April 12, 1825 Greenbrier County, Virginia(now West Virginia), U.S. |
| Died | January 18, 1887(aged 61) Washington, D.C.,U.S. |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse | Laura |
| Profession | Minister |
| Nickname | "Daddy Cain"[1] |
Richard Harvey Cain(April 12, 1825 – January 18, 1887) was an American minister,abolitionist,andUnited States RepresentativefromSouth Carolinafrom 1873 to 1875 and 1877 to 1879. After theAmerican Civil War,he was appointed by BishopDaniel Payneas amissionaryof theAfrican Methodist Episcopal Churchin South Carolina. He also was one of the founders ofLincolnville, South Carolina.
Early life and education
[edit]Cain was born to a black father and aCherokeemother[2]inGreenbrier County, Virginia,which is now inWest Virginia.He was raised inGallipolis, Ohio;Ohio state was a free state where he was allowed to read and write. He attendedWilberforce Universityand divinity school inHannibal, Missouri.TheAmerican Civil Warbroke out while he was at Wilberforce. He and 115 students from the mostly black university attempted to enlist in theUnion Armybut were refused.[1]
Career
[edit]Cain worked as a barber inGalena, Illinois,and worked on steamboats along theOhio Riverbefore he migrated south.
He had been licensed to preach for theMethodist Episcopal Churchin 1844. His first assignment was in Hannibal, Missouri. In 1848, frustrated by the segregationist policies of the Methodists, he joined theAfrican Methodist Episcopal Church,an independent black denomination started inPhiladelphia.By 1859, he became a deacon inMuscatine, Iowa.In 1861, Cain was called as a pastor at theBridge Street ChurchinBrooklyn,New York. In 1862, he was ordained as an elder and remained at the Brooklyn church until 1865.[1]
After the Civil War, Cain moved toCharleston, South Carolina,in 1865 as superintendent of AME missions and presided over theEmmanuel Churchin that city. The AME Church attracted tens of thousands of converts to its denomination very rapidly.[1]
Cain became active in politics, serving as a delegate to thestate constitutional conventionin 1868. He representedCharleston Countyin theSouth Carolina Senatefrom 1868 to 1872. He also edited theSouth Carolina Leadernewspaper (later renamed theMissionary Record). As editor, he hired future congressmenRobert B. ElliottandAlonzo Ransier.[1]
He was elected as aRepublicanto theForty-third United States Congressin a newly createdat-large district.He was on the Committee on Agriculture, but focused more on thecivil rights billwhich eventually passed in diluted form in 1875. He gave noted speeches on the bill in January, 1873. He did not run for re-election in 1874 after redistricting, but ran for the2nd districtin 1876. He was elected to theForty-fifth United States Congress.[1]
In 1877, while advocating in Congress for mail service to West African Colonies, Cain became a member of the Liberian Exodus Joint Stock Steamship Company. In 1880, Cain was elected and consecrated abishopin theAfrican Methodist Episcopal Church;he served the episcopal district which comprisedLouisianaandTexas.He helped foundPaul Quinn Collegeand served as its president until 1884.[1]
Cain then moved toWashington, D.C.,where he served as AME bishop over the Mid-Atlantic and New England States. He died in Washington on January 18, 1887, and was buried inGraceland Cemeterythere, but may have been removed toWoodlawn Cemeteryabout a decade later, when Graceland closed and many of its interments were reburied in Woodlawn.[3][4]
See also
[edit]- List of African-American United States representatives
- List of Native Americans in the United States Congress
References
[edit]- ^abcdefg"CAIN, Richard Harvey".Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.United States Congress.RetrievedDecember 5,2016.
- ^https://www.law.nyu.edu/sites/default/files/cainr.pdf[bare URL PDF]
- ^Edgar, Walter.South Carolina Encyclopedia(2006) pp. 119-120, University of South Carolina Press, Columbia, South Carolina,ISBN1-57003-598-9.
- ^Bailey, N. Louise, Morgan, Mary L., and Taylor, Carolyn R.Biographical Directory of the South Carolina Senate: 1776-1985,v. I, pp. 246-248, 1986, University of South Carolina Press, Columbia, South Carolina,ISBN0-87249-479-9.
Further reading
[edit]- Holt, Thomas C.Black over White: Negro Political Leadership in South Carolina during Reconstruction.(U of Illinois Press, 1977).
External links
[edit]| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
- 1825 births
- 1887 deaths
- 19th-century American clergy
- 19th-century American legislators
- African-American abolitionists
- African-American members of the United States House of Representatives
- African-American Methodists
- African-American politicians during the Reconstruction Era
- African-American state legislators in South Carolina
- African Methodist Episcopal bishops
- American Methodist clergy
- American Methodist missionaries
- American people of Cherokee descent
- Barbers
- Methodist abolitionists
- Native American members of the United States Congress
- Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from South Carolina
- People from Gallipolis, Ohio
- People from Greenbrier County, West Virginia
- Washington, D.C., Republicans
- Wilberforce University alumni
- 19th-century Native Americans
- Burials at Woodlawn Cemetery (Washington, D.C.)