Hyman rose from slavery to serve in U.S. Congress

By Maurice Emery
Editor Emeritus

In celebration of black history month the Littleton Observer highlights the first black North Carolinian to be elected to the U. S. Congress.

Born a slave on July 23, 1840 in Warrenton, John Hyman lived during the most turbulent times for North Carolina and the country. As a slave he was sold at least eight times. He was forced out of North Carolina in 1861 along with the white Warrenton shopkeeper he worked for. His crime was learning how to read and write, their crime was teaching him.

After being forced to leave the area he was sold and moved to Alabama. He spent the Civil War years in Alabama, but returned to North Carolina when the war ended. Hyman continued to find ways to educate himself. He worked as a farmer and store manager and immediately became involved in politics. 

In 1866 he attended the Freedmen’s Convention of North Carolina. He served on the Committee on Invitations where his responsibility was to invite influential public officials and private citizens to participate in the convention. 

The following year Hyman was elected to be a delegate to the State Republican Convention where he was appointed to the state executive committee. During that same period he served as a voting registrar for Warren County. He worked hard organizing and assisting black voter registration.

He served as a state senator from 1868 to 1874 from the Twentieth Senatorial District in Warren County. He was known for his advocacy for black civil rights and his opposition to Andrew Johnson’s leniency toward ex-confederates.

Hyman’s years as a politician saw him get involved with controversial issues several times. Between 1868 and 1871 he was involved with the scandals associated with Milton S. Littlefield a carpetbagger from Illinois. He was a general during the Civil War.  

Littlefield was involved with shady railroad deals. They were either unable or unwilling to extradite Littlefield back to North Carolina from Florida to answer to the charges. According to one source Littlefield was able to provide a list of prominent North Carolinians who would have to stand trial with him. In the end the visitor apparently told the general that he would not be bothered anymore. 

Some people felt this tainted Hyman, for others it did not make enough difference to influence their vote for him. In 1874, after the controversy, he was elected to the U. S. House of Representatives. He lost his first election, but beat G. W. Blount by 7,000 votes for the seat in a newly formed district. 

This made him the first black man elected to congress from the state of North Carolina. During his time in congress he served on the House Manufacturers committee. He fought for black civil rights and submitted several petitions to Congress for aid assisting the freedman (former slave who has been emancipated). He supported relief for Cherokee Indians plus he sponsored legislation authorizing the Treasury Department to build a lighthouse on Pamlico Sound in North Carolina.    

Hyman served only one term in the house. After that he was appointed as a special deputy collector for the Internal Revenue Service. Expenses from serving in Washington forced him to mortgage or dispose of most of his land in Warren County.

To support himself and his family he operated a liquor store in Warren County. At about the same time Hyman was a superintendent of the Sunday school at the Warrenton Negro Methodist Church. Once again his reputation was tarnished, this time by accusations of misappropriations of funds. In Debi Hamlin’s writing on Hyman she notes that he also had to face the disapproval of church members for selling liquor.  

Once again no charges were filed but he was forced to leave the area. 

Hyman was not a man to give up, instead he headed back to Washington, where he worked as an assistant mail clerk and worked for the Department of Agriculture in the seed dispensary section. 

John Adam Hyman died of a stroke in Washington in September 1891. He left a wife and four children.

It is important to remember that whatever you read about Hyman that he made it through very difficult times. In notes to her essay Hamlin writes; “…his [Hyman] presence in the political arena reflected Republican hopes for the reconstructed South. He gained political notoriety during an era of unprecedented racial violence in the Tarheel State. His brief success may have offered hope to newly freed blacks, indicating that they could realize, even for a brief time, the freedoms the Constitution guaranteed all persons. Although marred by corruption, Hyman’s political prominence did represent, to a degree, triumph for some Reconstruction efforts in North Carolina.”

There is a historical marker for John A. Hyman on U.S. 401 (South Main Street) at Franklin Street in Warrenton. The marker reads: First black to represent N.C. in U.S. Congress, 1875-1877; state senator, 1868-1874. Home is one block west.

Sources for information used in this article came from: 

NC Markers - http://www.ncmarkers.com;

From slavery to congress, John Hyman.
http://www.aaregistry.com/

John Hyman; Citation: Debi Hamlin. “Hyman, John Adams”; http://www.anb.org/articles/05/05-0936.html; American National Biography Online Feb. 2000. Access Date:  Copyright (c) 2000 American Council of Learned Societies.  Published by  Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.