Raynors HCA 2016-10
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 10/21/2016
Silver gelatin photograph, 7-1/2’ x 10" x 7.5" larger mount titled, "SENATE OF NORTH CAROLINA — SESSION OF 1899" (Photographer: C.P. Wharton, Raleigh, N.C.). Light toning and soiling to mount, photograph overall very clean with only a hint of edge wear, else very good condition overall. A fascinating composite photograph featuring, at the extreme lower right corner, the sole African American to serve in the North Carolina Senate (and the last until 1968). Misidentified in the printed identifications on the mount as "T. A. Fuller, 11th Dist., Warrenton, Warren Co.", Fuller appears as the last Senator in a list that is otherwise alphabetical. Born to freed slaves in 1867 in Franklinton, North Carolina, Fuller attended school, receiving his B.A. degree from Shaw University in 1890, as well as a master's degree from the same institution in 1893. A Baptist preacher and an educator, he was elected to the Senate as a candidate on the "Fusion" ticket—an alliance between the Republicans and Populists who were attempting to break the Democratic monopoly of power. Elected to office against his own stated wishes, he became the first African American to be elected to the North Carolina Senate since Reconstruction. Needless to say, his reception in the all white North Carolina Senate was less than cordial. Not only is he the last person pictured in the present photo, he was the last to take the oath of office, although the Senators were supposed to take it in alphabetical order. Because Senators were supposed to kiss the bible following their taking the oath, they compelled Fuller to go last.
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