Joseph H. Rainey House
Encyclopedia
Joseph H. Rainey House, also known as Rainey-Camlin House, was the Georgetown, South Carolina
home of the first black United States Congressman, Joseph H. Rainey, a former slave.
which allowed Joseph to gain some private education.
He worked as a steward on a Confederate blockade-runner ship in 1861. After he was drafted to serve the Confederacy as a laborer in 1862, he was able to escape with his wife to Bermuda
, where he also worked as a barber and continued his education.
In 1866, they returned to South Carolina. In 1868 he was elected to the South Carolina state senate. In 1870 he assumed the U.S. Congress position denied to B. F. Whittemore
on grounds of Whittemore's apparent corruption. He was reelected, and served four terms, finally losing election in 1878.
He was the longest serving Black congressman until William L. Dawson in the 1950s.
As a Congressman he spoke vigorously in support of enforcement of the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871.
Rainey returned to his Georgetown home in 1886 and died in 1887.
The home on Prince Street in Georgetown is a single family clapboarded house. It is 2½ stories tall, with two chimneys and a hipped roof interrupted by hipped dormers.
The house was restored during 1973-74. Much of the home is original, including cypress paneling, pine floors, and wainscotting.
The home was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
and further was declared a National Historic Landmark
in 1984.
Georgetown, South Carolina
Georgetown is the third oldest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina and the county seat of Georgetown County, in the Low Country. Located on Winyah Bay at the confluence of the Great Pee Dee River, Waccamaw River, and Sampit River, Georgetown is the second largest seaport in South Carolina,...
home of the first black United States Congressman, Joseph H. Rainey, a former slave.
Rainey
Rainey, born a slave in 1832 in Georgetown, became a freed black as his parents succeeded in buying their own freedom. His parents were reasonably prosperous with a barbershop business in Charleston, South CarolinaCharleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the second largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was made the county seat of Charleston County in 1901 when Charleston County was founded. The city's original name was Charles Towne in 1670, and it moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of the...
which allowed Joseph to gain some private education.
He worked as a steward on a Confederate blockade-runner ship in 1861. After he was drafted to serve the Confederacy as a laborer in 1862, he was able to escape with his wife to Bermuda
Bermuda
Bermuda is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, its nearest landmass is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. It is about south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and northeast of Miami, Florida...
, where he also worked as a barber and continued his education.
In 1866, they returned to South Carolina. In 1868 he was elected to the South Carolina state senate. In 1870 he assumed the U.S. Congress position denied to B. F. Whittemore
Benjamin F. Whittemore
Benjamin Franklin Whittemore was a U.S. Representative from South Carolina.-Biography:Born in Malden, Massachusetts, Whittemore attended the public schools of Worcester, and received an academic education at Amherst College....
on grounds of Whittemore's apparent corruption. He was reelected, and served four terms, finally losing election in 1878.
He was the longest serving Black congressman until William L. Dawson in the 1950s.
As a Congressman he spoke vigorously in support of enforcement of the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871.
Rainey returned to his Georgetown home in 1886 and died in 1887.
Home on Prince Street
According to "local tradition", the house was Rainey's birthplace in 1832, and his family lived here until they moved to Charleston in 1846. More surely known is that "it was from here that he launched his political career in 1867." While Rainey served in Congress, the house was his district headquarters and he lived here when on recess from Congress.The home on Prince Street in Georgetown is a single family clapboarded house. It is 2½ stories tall, with two chimneys and a hipped roof interrupted by hipped dormers.
The house was restored during 1973-74. Much of the home is original, including cypress paneling, pine floors, and wainscotting.
The home was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
and further was declared a National Historic Landmark
National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark is a building, site, structure, object, or district, that is officially recognized by the United States government for its historical significance...
in 1984.
External links
- Joseph H. Rainey House, Georgetown County (909 Prince St., Georgetown), at South Carolina Department of Archives and History