Benjamin F. Royal Explained

Benjamin F. Royal was a state senator in Alabama during the Reconstruction era. He was elected to the state senate in 1868, and was the first African American to serve in the chamber.[1] He represented Bullock County and served for nine years.[2] He served as a Republican, and had stated that "he could as well be an infidel as to be anything else than a Republican".[3] He was a Union League organizer.[4]

He was born to a white father and a mother who had been a slave.[5] He married a woman named Harriet on February 9, 1868 in Bullock County. The couple had one daughter.

In 1872, he and other Alabama state senators were photographed on the capitol steps. The photograph is held by the Alabama Department of Archives and History.[6]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Alabama Senate. Encyclopedia of Alabama.
  2. Web site: African-American Legislators in Reconstruction Alabama . Alabama Department of Archives and History . 28 February 2021 . 3 August 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220803140242/https://archives.alabama.gov/afro/AfricanAmerican%20Legislators%20in%20Reconstruction%20Alabama1867.pdf . dead .
  3. News: Senator B. F. Royal if Bullock . 28 February 2021 . The Weekly Huntsville Advocate . 4 December 1873 . 2.
  4. Book: Neither Carpetbaggers nor Scalawags: Black Officeholders During the Reconstruction of Alabama, 1867-1878. 9781588381897. Bailey. Richard. 2010.
  5. News: Race no barrier to those who love . 28 February 2021 . The Montgomery Advertiser . 7 June 1995 . 15.
  6. Web site: Archives/Five: 1872 Alabama Senate Reconstruction Photograph (Video) | Alabama Blogs & Entertainment .

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