This was a year of great political accomplishment for African Americans in the United States as well as in certain educational institutions. With the beginning of the Reconstruction Era in the South after the Civil War, came the beginnings of Black inclusion in two top political positions. Hiram R. Revels replaced Jefferson Davis, the former President of the Confederacy, as the Senator of Mississippi, he was the first African American elected to the Senate. Similarly Joseph Rainey was elected to the House of Representatives for South Carolina. He was the longest standing African American member of Congress during Reconstruction.