[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 209 (Thursday, December 10, 2020)]
[House]
[Pages H7129-H7130]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




DESIGNATING ROOM H-150 OF THE UNITED STATES CAPITOL AS ``THE JOSEPH H. 
    RAINEY ROOM'' TO HONOR THE HISTORIC LIFE, CAREER, AND LEGACY OF 
REPRESENTATIVE JOSEPH RAINEY OF SOUTH CAROLINA ON THE 150TH ANNIVERSARY 
       OF HIS SEATING AS A MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

  Mr. BROWN of Maryland. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that 
the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure be discharged from 
further consideration of House Resolution 1253 and ask for its 
immediate consideration in the House.
  The Clerk read the title of the resolution.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Ms. Torres Small of New Mexico). Is there 
objection to the request of the gentleman from Maryland?
  There was no objection.
  The text of the resolution is as follows:

                              H. Res. 1253

       Whereas Joseph Hayne Rainey was born enslaved on June 21, 
     1832, in Georgetown, South Carolina;
       Whereas South Carolina prohibited the education of Black 
     Americans, and instead of a formal education, Joseph H. 
     Rainey learned the barbering trade from his father, Edward 
     Rainey;
       Whereas Edward Rainey used profits from his work as a 
     barber to buy his and his family's freedom in the early 
     1840's;
       Whereas Joseph H. Rainey eventually moved with his family 
     to Charleston, South Carolina;
       Whereas in 1859, Joseph H. Rainey married his wife, Susan, 
     with whom he had three children, Joseph, Herbert, and Olive;
       Whereas in 1861, Joseph H. Rainey was conscripted by the 
     Confederate Army and worked as a ship's steward aboard a 
     Confederate vessel which secretly carried goods to the Union 
     Navy;
       Whereas during the Civil War, in 1862, Joseph H. Rainey and 
     his wife and family escaped to Bermuda, a British colony that 
     had abolished slavery in 1834, where he undertook successful 
     entrepreneurial endeavors with his wife;
       Whereas in 1866 Joseph Rainey and his family moved back to 
     Charleston, South Carolina after the Civil War had ended;
       Whereas Joseph H. Rainey co-founded the state Republican 
     Party and represented Georgetown, South Carolina on the 
     Party's central committee;
       Whereas Joseph H. Rainey participated in the South Carolina 
     State constitutional convention in 1868;
       Whereas Joseph H. Rainey won election to the House of 
     Representatives in 1870 and was the first African American to 
     serve in the House of Representatives;
       Whereas Joseph H. Rainey was sworn in as a member of the 
     House of Representatives on December 12, 1870 to represent 
     the 1st District of South Carolina in the Forty-First 
     Congress;
       Whereas Joseph H. Rainey became the first African American 
     to preside over the House of Representatives on April 29, 
     1874;
       Whereas Joseph H. Rainey served with distinction on several 
     committees, including the Committee on Freedmen's Affairs, 
     the committee handling all legislation concerning formerly 
     enslaved people;
       Whereas Joseph H. Rainey implored Congress to provide more 
     resources for education, calling for a federal, publicly 
     funded school system to develop the ``future lawmakers and 
     rulers of our country'';
       Whereas Joseph H. Rainey spoke on the House floor in 
     support of a $1 million appropriation to protect voting 
     rights in the South, which was later approved;
       Whereas Joseph H. Rainey called for decisive federal action 
     to end widespread violence in the former Confederacy, 
     advocating for passage of the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871;
       Whereas Joseph H. Rainey spoke extensively on the floor of 
     the House of Representatives about discrimination he faced as 
     a sitting Member of Congress, advocating for a civil rights 
     act to end discrimination on juries, in schools, on 
     transportation, and in public accommodations;
       Whereas Joseph H. Rainey departed the House of 
     Representatives on March 3, 1879 following electoral backlash 
     against Reconstruction;
       Whereas Joseph H. Rainey was the longest-serving African 
     American Member of Congress during the Reconstruction period;
       Whereas Joseph H. Rainey was appointed a special agent of 
     the United States Department of the Treasury in South 
     Carolina in 1879 following his Congressional service;
       Whereas Joseph H. Rainey is now commemorated in the United 
     States Capitol in an exhibit unveiled on December 4, 2020 by 
     the Speaker of the House, highlighting his legacy and the 
     foundation he laid for generations of lawmakers; and

[[Page H7130]]

       Whereas the Historian and the Clerk of the House of 
     Representatives published a historical record in September 
     2020 entitled `` `We Are in Earnest for Our Rights': Rainey 
     and the Struggle for Reconstruction'', chronicling the legacy 
     of Representative Joseph Rainey: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That room H-150 of the United States Capitol is 
     designated as ``The Joseph H. Rainey Room'' to honor the 
     historic life, career, and legacy of Representative Joseph 
     Rainey of South Carolina on the 150th anniversary of his 
     seating as a member of the House of Representatives.

  The resolution was agreed to.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

                          ____________________