Thomas E. Miller: Reconstruction Era "Man of Mark"

In honor of Black History Month, we draw your attention to one of Beaufort District's African American native sons who found prominence on the state and national scene. He was a local Reconstruction Ear "Man of Mark".

Thomas Ezekiel Miller (1849-1938):

Miller was born to free black parents in Ferrebeeville, S. C., near present-day Ridgeland. As a youth, Miller attended schools for free African-Americans in Charleston although such schools were prohibited by state law at the time. He studied for the bar in Columbia, S. C. after his graduation from Lincoln University in Pennsylvania in 1872. It was in the course of his law studies that Miller’s involvement in the Beaufort County Republican Party began.


Miller married Anna M. Hume around 1874. They would have 9 children together, 7 of whom would survive into adulthood.
 
His first public office was that of Beaufort school commissioner in 1872.  Two years later he was elected as representative to the state General Assembly. Miller served in the U. S. House from 1890-1891 upon successfully contesting the election of William Elliott. His political career was plagued by questions about his parentage and racial identity. He was frequently mocked as the "Yellow Canary" in the Democratic press. He lost the next election and returned to Beaufort before he served again in the South Carolina House of Representatives from 1894 to 1896.

Palmetto Post, 9 June 1892, p. 2

Miller was a progressive Republican. Miller joined with Robert Smalls to block legislation at the state Constitutional Convention of 1895 that would disfranchise black male citizens. They failed. At this same convention, Miller expressed his support for women’s suffrage. More successful was Miller’s efforts to found a state-supported college for African-Americans, the Colored Normal, Industrial, Agricultural and Mechanical College in Orangeburg, now known as South Carolina State University.

SCSU is the only public, historically black land-grant institution in South Carolina. He oversaw construction of the campus's first building, Bradham Hall. Miller became the college’s first president in 1896 and served until 1911 when he was forced to resign by Governor Coleman Blease. 


From 1911 until 1923 and again from 1934 until his death on April 8, 1938 he lived in Charleston, devoting himself to community activism. His tombstone in the Brotherly Association Cemetery in Charleston is inscribed: “I served God and all the people, loving the white man not less, but the Negro needed me most.”

We recommend these materials for additional information about Thomas E. Miller:

Black Carolinians: A History of Blacks in South Carolina from 1895 to 1968 by I.A. Newby. Columbia, SC: Published for the South Carolina Tricentennial Commission by the University of South Carolina Press, 1973. 

Black over White: Negro Political Leadership in South Carolina during Reconstruction by Thomas Holt.  Urbana : University of Illinois Press, 1979, ©1977.

Capitol Men: The Epic Story of Reconstruction Through the Lives of the First Black Congressmen by Philip Dray.  Boston : Houghton Mifflin Co., 2008.

"Dr. Thomas E. Miller, President" A Digital Collection Celebrating the Founding of the Historically Black College and University is a collection of primary resources from HBCU libraries and archives, no date.

A History of South Carolina State College, 1896 - 1978 by John F. Potts.Orangeburg, SC: South Carolina State College, 1978.

"Miller, Thomas E. (1849 - 1938)" Online Encyclopedia of Significant People and Places in African American History

"Miller, Thomas Ezekial," Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
 
"Miller, Thomas Ezekiel," History, Art and Archives: United States House of Representatives website 

Miller, Thomas Ezekial" by William C. Hine, South Carolina Encyclopedia, Original Published date: June 8, 2016, Date of Last Update March 16, 2017, Accessed 21 February 2020

Rebellion, Reconstruction and Redemption, 1861 - 1893 (The History of Beaufort County, South Carolina, vol. 2) by Stephen R. Wise, Lawrence Sanders Rowland, Gerhard Spieler and Alexander Moore. Columbia : University of South Carolina Press, [2015].  

South Carolina Negroes 1877–1900 by George Tindall. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, reprint  edition, 2003.

"Thomas E. Miller, 19^th Century Politician” in the African American Registry

 

"Thomas E. Miller and the Early Years of South Carolina State University," by William C. Hine. Carologue 12 (Winter 1996): 8 -12. 

This post is based substantively on the work of Dennis Adams, BCL's former Information Services Coordinator (now retired) prepared for the Library's pre-2016 website. An earlier version of this article was posted as "Famous Beaufortonians: Thomas E. Miller" in Connections in February 2012.