James Thomas Rapier was a United States Representative from 1873 until 1875. He was one of Alabama's three black congressmen during Reconstruction. He was born a free African American in Florence, Alabama to John H. Rapier, a prosperous local barber. James T. Rapier grew up in Nashville, Tennessee where he was reared by his grandmother, a slave clothes cleaner. In 1856 he traveled to Canada. Wikipedia
... Find A Grave Log In James Thomas Rapier Birth: Nov. 13, 1837 Death: May 31, 1883 Born a free Black in Alabama, Rapier was admitted to the bar, taught school, was a writer for a northern ... www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=6616007
Black Power in Old Alabama: The Life and Stirring Times of James Rapier, Afro-American Congressman from Alabama, 1839-1883 . Chicago: Museum of African-American History, 1968; Schweninger, Loren. bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=R000064/
Mr. RAPIER. Mr. Speaker, I had hoped there would be no protracted discussion on the civil-rights bill. www.law.nyu.edu/davisp/neglectedvoices/RapierJune091874.html
The definitive Wikipedia entry for James T. Rapier. Wikipedia is the biggest multilingual free-content encyclopedia on the Internet. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_T%2e_Rapier