20 • February 10, 2022 - February 16, 2022
THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS
IN
THE
CLASSROOM
Rep. Josiah Walls, Florida’s first Black Congress member
By HERB BOYD Special to the AmNews
In last week’s column we took a deep southern dive in our discussion of Vivian Malone. This week the divecontinuestoplumbevendeeper thanGeorgiatoFlorida.Andwithour profile of Rep. Josiah Walls we travel farther back into the past as well, and like Malone a significant first can be added to his resume. Walls was born into slavery in Winchester, Virginia, on Dec. 30, 1842. It was widely presumed that his father was Dr. John Walls, his master, with whom he kept a close relationship over the years. During the Civil War, Walls was forced into conscription as a Confederate artilleryman and was eventually captured by Union soldiers in 1862. After being emancipated by his captors, he briefly attended the county normal school in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Soon, he was a member of the 3rd Infantry Regiment of the U.S. Colored Troops and based in Philadelphia. In 1864, his regiment moved to territory in Florida then occupied by Union forces. That June he was transferred to the 35th Regiment of the USCT where he became the first sergeant and artillery instructor. It was during this stint in Picolota, Fla. that he met and married Helen Fergueson,withwhomhehadonedaughter. He was discharged from the military in October 1865 but chose to remain in Florida, subsequently gaining employment at a saw mill on the Suwannee River and later as a teacher with theFreedmen’sBureauinGainesville. A frugal, hard worker by 1868 he had saved enough money to purchase a 60-acre farm outside the city. His ambitions were bolstered by the education he had acquired, giving him an advantage to improve his status in the political realm, unlike so many other Black men of his generation. He launched his political career as a representative of the state’s Alachua County at the Florida constitutional convention in 1868, the same year he was elected a state assemblyman. In 1869, he was elected to the state senate and was among the five freedmen in the 24-member chamber. In 1871, he attended the Southern States Convention of Colored men in Columbia, S.C. It
should be noted that Walls’ ascendance is not without incidence in these waning years of Reconstruction, still he and Black elected officials fought valiantly to hold to their positions. Black voters were consistently intimidated, especially by the rise and rage of the KKK. This fear and intimidation was also felt by
Thus, Walls became the first African American to serve Florida in Congress. Despite his victory, he was unseated twice by the House Committee on Elections. Most of his time was spent fighting to hold his seat and advocating for compulsory educationandeconomicopportunityfor all races. “We demand that our lives, our liberties, and our property shall Rep. Josiah Walls courtesy of Flickr be protected by the strong arm of our government, that it gives us the same citizenship that it gives to thosewhoitseems would … sink our every hope for peace, prosperity, and happiness into the great sea of oblivion.” Meanwhile, Niblack was busy contesting the white members of the Republican outcome of the election, contendParty who were reluctant to support ing that several counties’ DemocratAfrican American candidates that ic votes were rejected by canvassers would possibly provoke a backlash who were not legally allowed to do from Democrats. so. Walls countered that he had lost All of the threats and deceptive more votes to voter intimidation by measures by the Democrats had the Klan, though he lacked evidence practically splintered the Republi- of this. It took the House Commitcan Party, and the contention in the tee on Elections two years and the party was intensified when scala- Republican majority ruled that Niwags (those white southerners who black was the winner, a rare instance collaborated with northern Republi- of the committee ruling in favor of cans for personal profit) and carpet- the minority party. Walls’ opponent baggers (those whites who ventured had won a battle but the war beSouth during Reconstruction to profit tween them was hardly over. When for it). When Walls sought to be the a four-way race took place in 1873, congressional representative from Walls came out on top defeating Nihis region of the state in 1871 he was black who came in third as a Conseropposed by Silas Niblack, a former vative. Upon his return to Congress, slave owner and a Confederate veter- Walls was assigned to the Commitan of the Civil War. A key plank of Ni- tee on Expenditures in the Navy Deblack’s campaign was his charge that partment. Walls did not possess the education Somewhat free of the tumult of required to be a member of Congress. reelection, Walls now had time to Walls challenged Niblack to a debate, devote to a number of pressing issues and shortly thereafter an attempt was in Florida, which he dubbed “my made on Walls’ life with a bullet nar- ownsunnystate.”Hewasanavidprorowly missing him. Violence and tur- moter of tourism to the state, inframoil marred the Election Day, but structure improvements in telegraph Walls emerged with a win, taking 627 lines, post offices and land-grant colmore votes than Niblack of the nearly leges. His congressional clout was felt 25,000 cast. Walls presented his cre- from the farms to the cities, though dentialsinMarch1871andwassworn he was unsuccessful in protecting the into Congress for a two year term and state’s orchards from foreign compealso given a seat on the Militia Com- tition. Most of the meamittee. sures
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never gained traction, never made it out of committee. He did, however, manage to gain pensions for Seminole War veterans who fought several battles against the state’s indigenous population. Among Walls’ most passionate demands were those waged for equality in education, particularly one entered in the Civil Rights Bill 1875, a measure thatwasstruckfromthebilljustbefore the vote. Walls was exercised that he abstained from voting. “I reluctantly confess,aftersomanyyearsofconcessions,thatunlesspartisanandsectional feeling shall lose more of its rancor in the future than has been experienced in the past...fundamental law will be disregarded, overthrown, and trampled underfoot, and a complete reign of terror and anarchy will rule supreme,” he said in his address to the House floor. In 1874, Florida was split into two congressionaldistricts,andWallswas thecandidateintheeasternhalfofthe peninsula, and this fractured the Republican Party and more trouble arrived with the economic depression. Even so, Walls had maximized his entrepreneurial ventures, amassed considerable wealth, all of which gave him an advantage in the subsequentelection.Onceagainhefaceda formidableopponentandamember of the Whig Party. Voters, as expected, cast their ballots along party lines. And Walls won by a slim margin. He was now a member of the 44th Congress and assigned to the Committee on Mileage. He wasn’t securely in his seat before his opponent, as before, began a campaign to unseat, again citing certain illegalities. Unlike the previous attempt to unseat him, Walls wasn’t as lucky this time and in 1878 his bid for re-nomination failed. But his political journey continued when he won a seat in the state senate, where he resumed his demand for compulsory public education. There were several other unsuccessful attempts to get back in Congress but ultimately he decided to settle into taking charge of the farm at Florida Normal College (now Florida A&M University) until his death on May 15, 1905. Oddly, his obituary wasn’t published in any of the mainstream Florida papers.
ACTIVITIES FIND OUT MORE Much of the above article is listed in the files at the Library of Congress, though several other publications on African American history have profiles. DISCUSSION Given the debates and splits that occurred during Reconstruction, Florida’s history provides an expansive example. PLACE IN CONTEXT Born in bondage, Walls lived through Reconstruction and the dawn of the 20th century.
THIS WEEK IN BLACK HISTORY Feb. 6, 1820: The first organized emigration of Blacks in America to be returned to Africa. Feb. 7, 1883: Famed pianist and composer Eubie Blake was born in Baltimore. He died in 1983. Feb. 7, 1965: Comedian/ actor Chris Rock was born in Andrews, S.C.
