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Sullivan, M.B., (fl. 1875) to Blanche Kelso Bruce

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC09400.178 Author/Creator: Sullivan, M.B., (fl. 1875) Place Written: Floreyville, Mississippi Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 26 October 1875 Pagination: 1 p. : docket ; 26.6 x 22.1 cm.

Summary of Content: A request to sign two tax receipts, and send the receipts back if the taxes have been paid. At the bottom of the letter there are some sums worked out.

Background Information: Blanche Kelso Bruce was born into slavery near Farmville, Prince Edward County, Va. on March 1 1841. He was tutored by his master's son, but left his master at the beginning of ...the civil war and taught school in Hannibal Mo. After the civil war Bruce became a planter in Mississippi, and a member of the Mississippi Levee Board, and Sheriff and Tax Collector for Bolivar County from 1872-1875. Bruce was then elected as a Republican to the United States Senate, where he served from March 4 1875 - March 3 1881. Bruce was the first African American to serve a full term in the U.S. Senate. In 1881 Bruce was appointed by President James Garfield as the Register of the Treasury. Bruce then went on to serve as the Recorder of Deeds for the District of Colombia from 1891-1893, returning to the office of Register of the Treasury from 1897 until his death on March 17, 1898. See More

People: Bruce, Blanche Kelso, 1841-1898
Sullivan, M.B., (fl. 1875)

Historical Era: Civil War and Reconstruction, 1861-1877

Subjects: African American HistoryAfrican Americans in GovernmentCongressReconstructionGovernment and CivicsFinanceTaxes or Taxation

Sub Era: Reconstruction

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