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The "Original 33" were the first 33 African-American lawmakers in the Georgia General Assembly. They were chosen in 1868, right after the Civil War. These men were among the very first African-American state leaders in the whole United States. Many of them were ministers.

When they took office, some white politicians tried to remove them. In September 1868, the African-American lawmakers were forced out of the Assembly. But the next year, the Georgia Supreme Court decided that African Americans had the right to hold office. So, in January 1870, the expelled lawmakers got their jobs back.

A sculpture called Expelled Because of Color at the Georgia State Capitol remembers these 33 brave men.

A Tough Start: Elections in 1868

The elections in Georgia in 1868 were very difficult. There was a lot of violence from groups like the Ku Klux Klan. They tried to hurt or scare newly freed African Americans. Officials counted hundreds of attacks against freedmen that year.

Despite these dangers, 33 African Americans were elected. Thirty of them became members of the lower house, and three joined the state senate. This meant about one-sixth of the 197-member legislature was African American. They were elected in areas where many Black people lived.

Why They Were Expelled

After the elections, the white majority in the Assembly didn't want the Black and mixed-race members to serve. They claimed these lawmakers were not allowed to hold office under Georgia's rules. Most Black delegates had actually voted against including the right for Black legislators to hold office in the state's new constitution. Representative Henry McNeal Turner later regretted this vote.

By September 1868, all 33 members were forced out. The expelled lawmakers asked the federal government and state courts for help.

Getting Their Seats Back

In June 1869, the Georgia Supreme Court made an important decision. In a case called White v. Clements, the court ruled that Black people did have the right to hold office in Georgia.

In January 1870, General Alfred H. Terry, who was in charge of the military district of Georgia, took action. He removed former Confederate soldiers from the Assembly who had been elected unfairly. He replaced them with other Republican candidates. He also brought back the Black legislators. This gave the Republicans a majority in both parts of the legislature.

With this new majority, the Assembly did important things. They approved the 15th Amendment, which gave African-American men the right to vote. They also chose new senators for Washington and started public education in Georgia.

Challenges After Reinstatement

The Republican majority didn't last long. In December 1870, a group called the "Redeemer" Democrats won most of the seats. The Republican governor, Rufus Bullock, tried to get federal military rule back in Georgia but failed. He then left the state.

After the Democrats took over, they made life very hard for Republicans and African Americans. They used fear and groups like the Ku Klux Klan. By the 1890s, many African Americans lost their right to vote. About a quarter of the Black legislators were killed, threatened, or put in jail.

The last African-American legislator from this era, William H. Rogers, left office in 1907. After him, no African American held a seat in the Georgia legislature until civil rights lawyer Leroy Johnson was elected in 1962.

List of Legislators

At that time, each state senator in Georgia represented a district made up of three counties. These districts were numbered. Population was not considered when drawing these districts. Each state representative in Georgia represented a county. Counties had between one and three representatives, depending on how many people lived there.

Representatives

State Senators

Remembering the Original 33

In 1976, the Black Caucus of the Georgia General Assembly honored the Original 33. They did this with a statue that shows the rise of African-American politicians. This statue is located on the grounds of the Georgia State Capitol in Atlanta.

The "Expelled Because of Their Color" monument is located near the Capitol Avenue entrance of the Georgia State Capitol. It was dedicated to the 33 original African-American Georgia legislators who were elected during the Reconstruction period. In the first election (1868) after the Civil war, blacks were allowed to vote. But even though former slaves could now vote, there was no law that allowed black representatives to hold office. So, the 33 black men who were elected to the General Assembly were expelled. The construction of this monument was funded by the Black Caucus of the Georgia General Assembly, a group of African-American State representatives and senators who are committed to the principles and ideals of the Civil Rights Movement organized in 1975. The Georgia Legislative Black Caucus commissioned the sculpture in March 1976 (Boutwell). John Riddle, the Sculptor of this monument, was also a painter and printmaker known for artwork that acknowledged the struggles of African-Americans through history.

—Carlisa Simon

The names of the 33 Black pioneer legislators are carved into the base of the sculpture. These are the men who were elected and expelled in 1868, then brought back into office in 1870.

The Georgia Legislative Black Caucus still holds events every year to honor the Original 33.

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