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Fri, 10.16.1868

Black Senator Assassinated in South Carolina

B. F. Randolph Memorial

On this date in 1868, a Black senator was assassinated in South Carolina.

B.F. Randolph, a South Carolina State Legislature member 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.

These three whites then rode up, dismounted, and shot Randolph. Although 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 and was (later) named in his memory in 1871.

Randolph (a preacher) and eight other African Americans who served in the State General Assembly during Reconstruction are buried there.

New Poem Each Day

Poetry Corner

Amos is a shepherd of suffering sheep; A pastor preaching in the depths of Alabama Preaching social justice to the Southland Preaching to the poor a new gospel of love With words... AMOS 1963 by Margaret Walker.
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