The Life of Blanche Kelso Bruce: From Slavery to Senator

He refused a position in President Cleveland's administration fearing as a lifelong Republican his political loyalties would be questioned. Bruce was nominated twice for vice president and was the first colored man to chair a senate session. One of his favorite parts about serving as Register of the Treasury was seeing his signature on greenbacks and national bank notes. This had him often teasing, "There's money in my name."Read about Blanche Bruce's hard fought journey from a slave born with the singular name of Blanche* to his rise to fame and fortune.
Learn about his life during the Civil War, and his run-in with William Quantrill's Guerillas in Lawrence, Kansas. Discover what life was like for African Americans in the South and how politics and political parties shaped our nation.*In an interview with the St. Paul Daily Globe printed in July 31, 1887, Bruce told a reporter his mother named him after her old girlfriend.