James T. Rapier

James T. Rapier

James Thomas Rapier (born November 13, 1837 in Florence , Alabama , † May 31, 1883 in Montgomery , Alabama) was an American politician ( Republican Party ). He was born a free African American and not, like others of the time, in slavery .

Career

James Rapier was tutored by private tutors in Alabama. He studied law in Canada and was also admitted to the bar. Then he worked there as a teacher. Rapier returned to the south to work as a reporter for a northern state newspaper . After the end of the civil war , he became the owner of a cotton plantation in 1865 . The following year, he was appointed a notary public by Alabama Governor Robert M. Patton .

Rapier was a member of the first Republican convention held in Alabama and the committee that shaped it. Then in 1867 he took part as a delegate to the Alabama Constituent Assembly . He ran unsuccessfully in 1870 for the post of Secretary of State . The following year he was appointed tax assessor. Then in 1873 he was appointed commissioner for the world exhibition in Vienna by Governor David Peter Lewis . He held the post on the part of the United States at the World's Fair in Paris . Rapier was elected to the 43rd US Congress , where he remained from March 4, 1873 to March 3, 1875. In his candidacy for the 44th Congress , he suffered a defeat. He then worked from August 8, 1878 until his death in 1883 in Montgomery as a tax collector for the second district of Alabama. He was in the Calvary Cemetery in St. Louis ( Missouri buried).

Web links

• James T. Rapier in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)

• James T. Rapier in the database of Find a Grave (English)