Revels, the unexpected.

“(My race) aim not to elevate themselves by sacrificing one single interest of their white fellow-citizens. They ask but the rights which are theirs by God's universal law.…”  -- Hiram Revels

Born a free man in North Carolina and educated as a minister, Revels literally prayed his way to the U.S. Senate. In 1869, he was elected to represent Adams County in the Mississippi state senate, and in 1870, he gave the opening prayer for the legislative session, a prayer so inspiring it convinced the rest of the legislative body to appoint him to fill the last year of an un-expired U.S. Senate term, in a seat once held by Jefferson Davis.

As a U.S. Senator, Revels proved to be an iconoclast, arguing for the reinstatement of black legislators unfairly ousted from their posts in Georgia, while advocating amnesty and full restoration of citizenship to ex-Confederates who swore loyalty to the U.S. He also won a victory for black workers who had been barred by their color from working at the Washington Navy Shipyards. After he returned to Mississippi, Revels continued to carve out his own path, turning against the Republican Governor Adelbert Ames and surprising many by aligning himself with the state’s Democratic Party.

Ida B. Wells, on the other hand, surprised many simply by her existence. Born a slave, orphaned by yellow fever at 16 with five younger siblings to care for, Wells proved irrepressible. She would not be stopped, and she not be silenced.