; Whereas Joseph H. Rainey served with distinction on several committees, including the Committee on Freedmen’s Affairs, the committee handling all legislation concerning formerly enslaved people; Whereas Joseph H. Rainey implored Congress to provide more resources for education, calling for a federal, publicly funded school system to develop the “future lawmakers and rulers of our country”; Whereas Joseph H. Rainey spoke on the House floor in support of a $1 million appropriation to protect voting rights in the South, which was later approved; Whereas Joseph H. Rainey called for decisive federal action to end widespread violence in the former Confederacy, advocating for passage of the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871; Whereas Joseph H. Rainey spoke extensively on the floor of the House of Representatives about discrimination he faced as a sitting Member of Congress, advocating for a civil rights act to end discrimination on juries, in schools, on transportation, and in public accommodations; Whereas Joseph H. Rainey departed the House of Representatives on March 3, 1879, following electoral backlash against Reconstruction; Whereas Joseph H. Rainey was the longest-serving African American Member of Congress during the Reconstruction period; Whereas Joseph H. Rainey was appointed a special agent of the United States Department of the Treasury in South Carolina in 1879 following his Congressional service; Whereas Joseph H. Rainey is now commemorated in the United States Capitol in an exhibit unveiled on December 4, 2020, by the Speaker of the House, highlighting his legacy and the foundation he laid for generations of lawmakers; and Whereas the Historian and the Clerk of the House of Representatives published a historical record in September 2020 entitled We Are in Earnest for Our Rights : Rainey and the Struggle for Reconstruction , chronicling the legacy of Representative Joseph Rainey: Now, therefore, be it