Benjamin F. Royal

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][3] He served as a Republican, and had stated that "he could as well be an infidel as to be anything else than a Republican".[4] He was a Union League organizer.[5]

He was born to a white father and a mother who had been a slave.[3]

Photo of Alabama Senate members in 1872 on the capitol steps

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]

References
  1. "Alabama Senate". Encyclopedia of Alabama.
  2. "African-American Legislators in Reconstruction Alabama" (PDF). Alabama Department of Archives and History. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 August 2022. Retrieved 28 February 2021.
  3. "Race no barrier to those who love". The Montgomery Advertiser. 7 June 1995. p. 15. Retrieved 28 February 2021.
  4. "Senator B. F. Royal if Bullock". The Weekly Huntsville Advocate. 4 December 1873. p. 2. Retrieved 28 February 2021.
  5. Bailey, Richard (2010). Neither Carpetbaggers nor Scalawags: Black Officeholders During the Reconstruction of Alabama, 1867-1878. ISBN 9781588381897.
  6. "Archives/Five: 1872 Alabama Senate Reconstruction Photograph (Video) | Alabama Blogs & Entertainment".
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