Bruce, Blanche K. | Research & Encyclopedia Articles

Blanche K. Bruce

Born March 1, 1841
Farmville, Virginia

Died March 17, 1898
Washington, D.C.

U.S. senator, educator, and farmer

"I have confidence, not only in my country and her institutions, but in the endurance, capacity and destiny of my people. We will, as opportunity offers and ability serves, seek our places.… Whatever our ultimate position in the composite civilization of the Republic and whatever varying fortunes attend our career, we will not forget our instincts for freedom nor our love for country."

Blanche K. Bruce was the first African American to serve a full term in the U.S. Senate. Prior to his political career, he founded a school in Hannibal, Missouri, and later helped establish a strong, countywide system of twenty-one schools in Mississippi. Bruce was also a successful farmer. Following his term in the Senate, Bruce was a chairperson of the Republican National Convention in Chicago in 1880 and served in the administrations of presidents Benjamin Harrison (1833–1901; served 1889–93) and William McKinley (1843–1901; served 1897–1901).

Up from Slavery

Born Blanche Bruce in 1841 on a plantation in Farmville, Virginia, he was one of eleven children of Polly Bruce, a slave. Bruce's father was probably Pettus Perkinson, the slaveowner of the plantation.

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