Whereas Joseph Hayne Rainey was born enslaved on June 21, 1832, in Georgetown, South Carolina; Whereas Joseph Rainey learned the barbering trade from his father, Edward Rainey; Whereas Edward Rainey used profits from his work as a barber to buy his and his family’s freedom in the 1840’s; Whereas Joseph Rainey eventually moved with his family to Charleston, South Carolina; Whereas in 1859, Joseph Rainey married his wife, Susan, with whom he had three children, Joseph II, Herbert, and Olive; Whereas during the Civil War, in 1862, Joseph Rainey and his wife and family escaped to Bermuda, a British colony that had abolished slavery in 1834, and undertook successful entrepreneurial endeavors together; Whereas in 1866 the Rainey family moved back to Charleston, South Carolina, after the Civil War had ended; Whereas Joseph H. Rainey co-founded the State Republican Party and represented Georgetown, South Carolina, on the party’s central committee in 1867; Whereas Joseph Rainey participated in the South Carolina State constitutional convention in 1868; Whereas Joseph Rainey was first elected to public office in 1870, when he won a seat in the State Senate; Whereas Joseph Rainey won election to the House of Representatives in 1870, and was the first African American to serve as a Member of the House of Representatives; Whereas Joseph Rainey was sworn in as a member of the House of Representatives on December 12, 1870, to represent the First District of South Carolina in the Forty-First Congress; Whereas Joseph Rainey became the first African American to preside over the House of Representatives by taking the chair in April 1874; Whereas Joseph Rainey was an active and effective member of Congress, serving with distinction on a number of committees including the Committee on Freedmen’s Affairs, the committee handling all legislation concerning people freed from slavery; Whereas Joseph Rainey was a tireless advocate for civil rights and equality