James H. Harris
Raleigh, Wake County, North Carolina
Marker Inscription
James H. Harris 1832 1891. Black legislator & orator; member 1868 convention; a founder of Republican Party & Union League in N.C. Home was 1 block W.
Erected by North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources
The Story
James H. Harris was a leading Black political voice in Reconstruction-era North Carolina, serving as a legislator and orator and sitting in the pivotal 1868 constitutional convention. He helped found the state's Republican Party and Union League. His home stood a block west of this marker.
Why it matters
His leadership marks the brief, hard-won era when Black North Carolinians helped write their state's laws and build its political institutions.
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Related people
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