Answer:
Analyzing Causes
Factors that influenced and encouraged Revel to dedicate his life to racial harmony:
1. Revel was born of free parents in North Carolina in the South. He knew what freedom meant from birth and savored its effect.
2. Despite his birth of free parents he was denied education in the South.
3. He had to travel to Indiana and Illinois to receive education.
4. He became a Methodist pastor and knew Jesus Christ. He knew the freedom that should be enjoyed by every human being.
5. He actively participated in the Civil War as a minister to two Black Regiments and knew first-hand the destructive effects of racial discrimination.
6. After becoming a politician and the first black senator of the United States, he understood that he must use his political position to influence positive changes in the US society. It was his chance and he used it well.
Explanation:
The man we are discussing is Hiram Rhodes Revels (1827 - 1901). He is enviably the first black senator in the US senate. He was born of free parents in North Carolina. He received his education from Indiana and Illinois because "there was no opportunity for him in the inns," of the heavily discrimination-infected South. Despite all odds he became a Reverend gentleman, and endeared himself to his community through his intelligence and eloquence. Not satisfied with the status-quo, he vied for political positions in the state of Mississippi and eventually became the first black senator in US history.
