342:. If true, this accusation would have rendered him ineligible to serve in Congress. O'Hara denied the charge and maintained that he had obtained a legal divorce from his first wife without her knowledge. The Republican executive committee refused to accept his account and pulled him from the congressional race, calling for a second convention less than three weeks before the election. At the next convention, O'Hara nearly earned his nomination back, but the Democrats accused him of not being a United States citizen. (As of November 1867, Wayne County records showed O'Hara to be a native of the Virgin Islands. O'Hara stated that he had taken preliminary steps to become naturalized, but had never completed the process as he learned he was born in New York City.) While the Republicans opted to nominate James H. Harris (a white candidate), O'Hara remained in the race and won the election. However, when the votes were "counted," many of his votes were thrown out, allowing his Democratic opponent,
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362:) to be elected to Congress from North Carolina and was the first to be elected following the end of the Reconstruction era. While in Congress, O’Hara served on the Mines and Mining Committee, the Expenditures on Public Buildings Committee, and the Invalid Pensions Committee. He was known for making short speeches and fighting for the rights of African Americans. He proposed a constitutional amendment to require equal accommodations for African Americans on public transportation and proposed legislation to reinstate the 1875 Civil Rights Bill.
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335:—the major population center in the area—was a black-majority city. In the postwar period, many blacks had migrated from rural to urban areas to establish communities independent of white supervision. O'Hara was a delegate to the state constitutional convention of 1875, where he represented Halifax County.
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called the election "pure
Democratic villainy," as it was widely known that Democrats sent a telegram to Tarboro stating that if O'Hara received less than a 1,000 vote majority in Egdecombe County, Kitchin would win. O'Hara contested the results, but evidence was destroyed when his house burned down
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O'Hara married 22-year-old Ann Maria Harris, in New Bern, on March 16, 1864. Two years later, he moved to
Goldsboro, accepting a teaching position. However, Ann refused to move there with him, even after becoming pregnant. Their relationship deteriorated, and O'Hara stopped seeing Ann, who moved
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seating, although the railroads' interstate transportation was under federal oversight and should have been enforced constitutional rights. That year, O'Hara succeeded in amending the appropriations bill for the
District of Columbia (which was then administered by the US Congress), in order to
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require that male and female teachers doing the same work and having the same certificates be paid equivalent salaries. Teachers of both races were paid equally during that period. He also attempted to secure compensation for freedmen who lost savings in the failure of the
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369:, asserting that Congress could regulate passenger cars as well as freight traffic, he was unable to gain language requiring enforcement of integrated passenger seating for the railroads. Congress allowed a loophole permitting
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O'Hara passed the bar in North
Carolina in 1873 and started a law practice there. In 1878, he ran for Congress and won, but his white opponent was ruled the winner by corrupt public officials. In 1882, O'Hara was elected as a
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After Ann left him, O'Hara met and married
Elizabeth Eleanor Harris, who went by "Libby”, on July 14, 1869. Elizabeth was from a prominent family in Oberlin, Ohio. She had relocated to the South, after the War to teach
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O'Hara was a Roman
Catholic. He died in New Bern on September 15, 1905, at the age of 61. Elizabeth O'Hara died on January 30, 1930, at the age of 80. Raphael O'Hara died on October 30, 1952, also at the age of 80.
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During his early years in North
Carolina, he "read the law" as a legal apprentice. O'Hara was admitted to the North Carolina bar in 1873 as the third black lawyer in the state and returned to
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blacks through making voter registration more difficult. This status lasted for most blacks in the state until passage in the mid-1960s of civil rights legislation to enforce their rights.
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board of commissioners. He served in that capacity for four years. Halifax and nearby counties of the northeast part of the state had black majorities, and were included within
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358:. He served in the Forty-eighth Congress and was re-elected to the Forty-ninth Congress, serving from March 4, 1883 - March 3, 1887. He was the second African American (after
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was elected by a plurality to the
Fiftieth Congress. In 1900 the Democrat-dominated state legislature passed a constitutional suffrage amendment that effectively
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merchant. Soon after James was born, his parents moved the family to the West Indies, where they lived into the 1850s before returning to New York.
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After his defeat in 1886, O'Hara ran for
Congress unsuccessfully in 1888. He then resumed the practice of law in New Bern with his son Raphael.
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amid suspicious circumstances. His court challenges to the election results failed. O'Hara ran unsuccessfully for
Congress once again in 1880.
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because of his two marriages. Asserting that he had obtained a legal divorce from Ann without her knowledge, O'Hara denied the accusation.
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Because of Republican infighting in O'Hara's district, the vote in 1886 was split between another candidate and O'Hara. The Democrat
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O'Hara competed for the congressional seat from the 2nd District numerous times. When he ran for Congress in 1878, he was accused of
248:, where there was a black majority. He served two terms. After being defeated in the 1886 election, he returned to his law practice.
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Anderson, Eric (1982). "James O'Hara of North Carolina: Black Leadership and Local Government". In Rabinowitz, Howard N. (ed.).
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Among the 139 Republicans in the House of Representatives at the time, O'Hara was to only one to vote against the
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442:. Raphael was the "first second-generation black lawyer in the state" and practiced for nearly 50 years.
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establish independent lives and new congregations. O'Hara became active in politics, being elected as a
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Reid, George W. (Summer 1979). "Four in Black: North Carolina's Black Congressmen, 1874–1901".
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642:"TO AGREE TO REPORT OF CONFERENCE COMMITTEE ON S. 10 ... -- House Vote #274 -- Feb 17, 1887"
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Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from North Carolina
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to Boston and changed her surname to "Cowan." It is unclear if he ever saw their child.
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After serving as a delegate and a clerk for the 1868 state convention that drafted a new
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572:"O'HARA, James Edward | US House of Representatives: History, Art & Archives"
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ancestry and was raised in the West Indies. As a young man, he traveled to the
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He and Elizabeth had a son, Raphael. Raphael earned a law degree in 1895 at
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O'Hara family portrait (Elizabeth Eleanor, James E., and Raphael) ca. 1883.
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politician and attorney who in 1882, after Reconstruction, was the second
724:. North Carolina State Board of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics. 1952.
710:. North Carolina State Board of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics. 1930.
611:
Harris, James Henry. "Positive Evidence of J.E. O'Hara's Ineligibility".
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293:
225:
665:
Pildes, Richard H. (2000). "Democracy, Anti-Democracy, and the Canon".
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and to plant new congregations of the independent church in the South.
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African-American members of the United States House of Representatives
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Race and Politics in North Carolina, 1872--1901: The Black Second
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Black Congressmen During Reconstruction: A Documentary Sourcebook
889:. United States Government Printing Office. pp. 146–151.
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from 1868 to 1869. In 1873, he was elected chairman of the
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African-American politicians during the Reconstruction Era
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University of Chicago Special Collections Research Center
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In 1878, when he ran for Congress, O'Hara was accused of
200:. He was born in New York City to parents of mixed-race
802:
Emancipation: The Making of the Black Lawyer, 1844-1944
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George Henry White: An Even Chance in the Race of Life
461:
List of African-American United States representatives
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and joined his father in his law practice, by then in
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Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
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African Americans In Congress: A Documentary History
626:"Positive Evidence of J.E. O'Hara's Ineligibility".
615:. North Carolina Department of Archives and History.
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Clerk of the United States House of Representatives
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742:. University of Illinois Press. pp. 101–125.
740:Southern Black Leaders of the Reconstruction Era
188:(February 26, 1844 – September 15, 1905) was an
694:"Guide to the James E. O'Hara Papers 1866-1970"
940:Guide to the James E. O'Hara Papers 1866-1970
354:In 1882, O'Hara was elected to Congress from
224:, an independent black denomination, to help
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970:U.S. House of Representatives
976:North Carolina's 2nd congressional district
356:North Carolina's 2nd congressional district
329:North Carolina's 2nd congressional district
246:North Carolina's 2nd congressional district
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848:Freedman, Eric; Jones, Stephen A. (2008).
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45:U.S. House of Representatives
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321:North Carolina House of Representatives
290:African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church
222:African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church
99:North Carolina House of Representatives
1030:American people of West Indian descent
886:Black Americans in Congress, 1870-2007
856:49, 82, 125, 134–135, 386–387, 392–394
696:. University of Chicago Library. 2006.
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284:, O'Hara moved to North Carolina with
242:United States House of Representatives
260:on February 26, 1844. His mother was
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913:"O'Hara, James Edward (id: O000054)"
805:. University of Pennsylvania Press.
708:"Elizabeth Harris Death Certificate"
376:Freedmen's Savings and Trust Company
1055:People from Enfield, North Carolina
722:"Raphael O'Hara Death Certificate"
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1050:19th-century American legislators
479:"James Edward O’Hara (1844–1905)"
456:Civil rights movement (1865–1896)
1025:American people of Irish descent
481:, North Carolina History Project
367:Interstate Commerce Act of 1887
365:Although O'Hara influenced the
196:to be elected to Congress from
1035:Politicians from New York City
784:. Greenwood Publishing Group.
757:Justesen, Benjamin R. (2012).
1:
968:Member of the
953:U.S. House of Representatives
68:March 4, 1883 – March 3, 1887
493:The Journal of Negro History
232:to local and state offices.
930:Black Americans in Congress
799:Smith, J. Clay Jr. (1999).
778:Middleton, Stephen (2002).
588:Justesen (2001), pp. 37–38.
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613:James Henry Harris Papers
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911:United States Congress.
533:Middleton (2002), p. 275
440:New Bern, North Carolina
378:, but was unsuccessful.
276:Career in North Carolina
252:Early life and education
154:New Bern, North Carolina
827:Anderson, Eric (1980).
301:Enfield, North Carolina
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210:southern United States
878:"James Edward O'Hara"
854:. CQ Press. pp.
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987:Furnifold M. Simmons
926:O'Hara, James Edward
683:Smith (1999), p. 205
542:Smith (1999), p. 202
390:Furnifold M. Simmons
91:Furnifold M. Simmons
874:Wasniewski, Matthew
186:James Edward O'Hara
16:American politician
932:maintained by the
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383:Edmunds–Tucker Act
348:The New York Times
313:state constitution
282:American Civil War
214:American Civil War
147:September 15, 1905
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984:Succeeded by
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646:GovTrack.us
331:. By 1877,
315:, O'Hara—a
264:(likely of
262:West Indian
202:West Indian
74:Preceded by
999:Categories
981:1883–1887
651:2021-09-10
467:References
371:segregated
317:Republican
280:After the
266:mixed race
238:Republican
230:Republican
212:after the
170:Profession
164:Republican
131:1844-02-26
521:150331300
385:of 1887.
220:from the
111:1868–1869
107:In office
64:In office
450:See also
422:freedmen
333:New Bern
294:freedmen
226:freedmen
190:American
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942:at the
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891:ISBN
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