Mississippi stands poised to add a third Black name to a Senate record that has long been thin, and the arithmetic of that record tells its own story. Hiram Revels took his seat in 1870, in the brief opening that Reconstruction offered, and Blanche Bruce followed in the mid-1870s, just before the legal order of Jim Crow closed that door for generations. Scott Colom's expected election places him at the far end of that long silence, and what the moment means depends largely on how much weight a state's memory is willing to give to the years in between.
Scott Colom Set to Become Mississippi's Third Black U.S. Senator; Revels and Bruce Preceded Him
Three Black senators in the state's history, two from the nineteenth century
Mark
Why does this story lean so heavily on two men from the 1800s?
Mimi
Because they're the only precedent. Revels in 1870 and Bruce from 1875 to 1881 are the only other Black senators Mississippi has had.
Mark
And their timing was significant?
Mimi
Very. Revels took his seat two days after Mississippi was readmitted to the union. Bruce served just before white leaders brought in Jim Crow.
Luke
Before we go further, how much of this is actually confirmed? The headline says Colom is set to become senator.
Mimi
The framing is that he's poised to, and the count of three follows from that. The piece I'm working from is short.
Luke
So we don't have margins, opponents, or his platform.
Mimi
Correct. None of that is in what we have.
Mark
What about the gap between Bruce and Colom?
Luke
The material implies a long absence, but it doesn't explain it. Anything beyond the dates would be me guessing.
Mimi
Then the honest version is simple: three senators, two from the nineteenth century, and a long stretch with none.
Il Polso
- A narrow sequence of names carries the weight of more than a century between them.
- The gap between Bruce's departure and Colom's arrival sits uncomfortably in the open, unexplained by the brief record at hand.
- The election itself moves the state's Senate history toward a rare correction, one seat at a time.
- The story lands on a milestone that is historic in count but still early in what it might change.
Mississippi stands poised to add a third Black name to a Senate record that has long been thin, and the arithmetic of that record tells its own story. Hiram Revels took his seat in 1870, in the brief opening that Reconstruction offered, and Blanche Bruce followed in the mid-1870s, just before the legal order of Jim Crow closed that door for generations. Scott Colom's expected election places him at the far end of that long silence, and what the moment means depends largely on how much weight a state's memory is willing to give to the years in between.
Scott Colom is set to become the third Black person to represent Mississippi in the United States Senate. Before him stand two names that anchor the state's history: Hiram Revels and Blanche Bruce.
Revels arrived first, taking his seat in 1870, just two days after Mississippi was readmitted to the Union following the Civil War. His presence was bound to that moment, when the state's return to federal standing briefly opened a door that had been shut to Black Mississippians.
Bruce followed from 1875 to 1881, serving just before white leaders ushered in the Jim Crow era. Both men held office during Reconstruction or at its edge, before the political order that would push Black citizens from power had fully taken hold.
After Bruce, Mississippi's Senate seats had no Black occupant until now. The brief reporting does not detail the decades in between, but the count speaks for itself. Colom's election would make him only the third, and it places him in a lineage that begins in the nineteenth century rather than in more recent politics.
Scott Colom is set to become the third Black person to represent Mississippi in the United States Senate. The two before him are Hiram Revels and Blanche Bruce, and the distance between their service and his is the substance of the story.
Revels came first, in 1870. He took his seat two days after Mississippi was readmitted to the union following the Civil War. His arrival was tied directly to that moment, when the state's return to the federal government opened a door that had been closed to Black Mississippians.
Bruce followed, serving from 1875 to 1881. His term came just before white leaders in the state ushered in the Jim Crow era. That timing matters. Both men served during Reconstruction or at its edge, before the legal and political order that would shut Black citizens out of power took hold.
After Bruce, Mississippi's Senate seats had no Black occupant until now. The reporting available here does not detail the intervening decades. The gap is implied by the count itself: three Black senators in the state's history, two of them from the nineteenth century.
Colom's election would make him only the third, and the framing of the coverage places him in a line that begins with Revels and Bruce rather than in a more recent political lineage. The material at hand is brief. It does not lay out the details of the race or Colom's platform, so those are not covered here.
What the story points toward is the weight of the milestone itself: a long absence of Black representation in the state's Senate seats, and the history behind that absence, now set to be broken.
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