B. F. Randolph
On this date in 1868, a Black senator was assassinated in South Carolina.
B.F. Randolph, a member of the South Carolina State Legislature during Reconstruction, was murdered at Cokesburg in Abbeville, S.C. He had been on an election tour and the night before had delivered an address at the Abbeville courthouse. The next day he took the train to Cokesburg, put his baggage in the ladies' car, and went to the train's platform at Hodges Depot.
There three white then rode up, dismounted, and shot Randolph. Although it was in broad daylight, the murderers were allegedly not recognized and escaped. Randolph’s body was taken to Columbia, S.C. Randolph Cemetery where he was buried was (later) named in his memory in 1871.
Randolph (also a preacher) and eight other African Americans who served in the State General Assembly during Reconstruction are among those buried there.
Reference: the New York Times, October 18, 1868.
