"M" is for Murray, George Washington (1853-1926)

"M" is for Murray, George Washington (1853-1926). Congressman. Born in Rembert, Murray managed to acquire a rudimentary education in Sumter County schools after 1865. He attended the University of South Carolina and for nearly fifteen years taught school in Sumer County. He was the long-standing chairman of the Sumter County Republican Party and served as a delegate to several Republican National Conventions. In the 1892 Murray was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives and served two terms. He was something of a political maverick and frequently voted with agrarian populists. In 1895 he undertook an energetic campaign across South Carolina speaking against the black disenfranchisement movement led by state Democrats. Defeated for reelection in 1898, George Washington Murray was the last African American to represent South Carolina in Congress for nearly a century.