Tags: Congressman.
James Thomas Rapier (November 13 1837 – May 31 1883) was an attorney a planter and a politician; he served as a United States Representative from 1873 until 1875. Born free he was educated in Canada and admitted to the bar. He became a national figure in the Republican Party after the Civil War and was one of Alabama’s three blacks elected as congressmen during Reconstruction. He was one of seven blacks serving in the 43rd Congress.
