| Benjamin Sterling Turner | |
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| In office March 4, 1871 - March 3, 1873 |
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| Preceded by | Alfred Buck |
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| Succeeded by | Frederick Bromberg |
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| Born | March 17 1825 Weldon, North Carolina |
| Died | March 21 1894 (aged 69) Selma, Alabama |
| Political party | Republican |
Benjamin Sterling Turner (b. March 17 1825, Weldon, North Carolina - d. March 21 1894, Selma, Alabama) was an US Congress Representative from Alabama. He was born near in Halifax County, North Carolina near the town of Weldon. His parents were slaves. He was taken to Alabama at age five. Turner received no early education. B clandestine study he obtained a fair education. He seems to have remained enslaved until the Emancipation Proclamation was issued. He engaged in mercantile pursuits. He set up a livery stable in Selma, Alabama. He was also elected tax collector of Dallas County, Alabama in 1867; then latter councilman of the city of Selma in 1869. Turner was unanimously nominated to be the Republican canidate from the Alabama First District which at that point ecompassed South-west Alabama. He was elected as a Republican to the Forty-second Congress (March 4 1871 - March 3 1873). He did feel that the northern Republicans living in his district had not supported him in his run for office enough. In congress he worked to restore political and legal rights to those who had fought against the United States in the American Civil War. He also fought for the repeal of the tax on cotton on the grounds that it hurt poor African-Americans. In 1872 Turner again received the Republican nomination in the first district. However another African-American, Philip Joseph ran as an independent. This caused a split in the Republican vote, and allowed F. G. Bromberg, a fusion canidate of the Liberal Republicans and Democrats to win. Turner was a delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1880. After his political career, he engaged in agricultural pursuits in Alabama. He died in Selma, Alabama on March 21 1894, aged 69; interred in Live Oak Cemetery.
Sources
Christopher, Mayrine. America's Black Congressmen. Thomas Y. Crowell Company: New York, 1971. p. 124-127.
