Menard, John Willis, 1838-1893

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John Willis Menard (April 3, 1838 – October 8, 1893) was a federal government employee, poet, newspaper publisher and politician born in Kaskaskia, Illinois to parents who were Louisiana Creoles from New Orleans. After moving to New Orleans, on November 3, 1868, Menard was the first black man ever elected to the United States House of Representatives. His opponent contested his election, and opposition to his election prevented him from being seated in Congress.

John Willis Menard was born in 1838 in Kaskaskia in Randolph County in southern Illinois, to parents who were free people of color. They were Louisiana Creoles from New Orleans, of mostly European and some African descent. He may have been related to Michel Branamour Menard, a French-Canadian fur trader and a founder of Galveston, Texas. Menard attended school in Sparta, Illinois and Ohio Central College, then Iberia College in Iberia, Ohio.

During the American Civil War, Menard worked as a clerk in the Department of the Interior under President Abraham Lincoln. He was sent to British Honduras in 1863 to investigate a proposed colony for newly freed slaves. After the war Menard settled in New Orleans.

Menard moved to New Orleans in 1865, establishing the newspaper, The Free South, later named The Radical Standard. In an 1868 special election to fill the unexpired term of James Mann, a Democrat who had died in office, Menard was elected as a Republican to represent Louisiana's 2nd congressional district. He was denied the seat on the basis of an election challenge by the apparent loser, Caleb S. Hunt. On February 27, 1869, Menard became the first African American to address the chamber.

Archival Resources
Role Title Holding Repository
referencedIn Records of the U.S. Senate, 1789 - 2015. Isaac Bassett's Papers, ca. 1880 - ca. 1895. [Box] 3 - Folder C National Archives at Washington, D.C
referencedIn James Lowell Gibbs collection of African-American documents, 1865-1918 Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library.
referencedIn Sumner, Charles, 1811-1874. Correspondence, 1829-1874 Houghton Library
referencedIn Gibbs, James Lowell,. James Lowell Gibbs collection of African-American documents, 1865-1918. Cornell University Library
Role Title Holding Repository
creatorOf Lays in summer lands. Poems
Relation Name
memberOf Florida. Legislature. House of Representatives corporateBody
associatedWith Gibbs, James Lowell, person
associatedWith James Lowell Gibbs. person
alumnusOrAlumnaOf Ohio Central College (Iberia) corporateBody
correspondedWith Sumner, Charles, 1811-1874 person
employeeOf United States Department of the Interior corporateBody
Place Name Admin Code Country
District of Columbia DC US
Kaskaskia IL US
Jacksonville FL US
New Orleans LA US
Iberia OH US
Sparta IL US
Subject
Occupation
Federal Government Employee
Newspaper editors
Newspaper publishers
Poets
State Representative
Activity

Person

Birth 1838-04-03

Death 1893-10-08

Male

Americans

English

Information

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