land College near the town of Rodney in Claiborne
County, was finally purchased, and Alcorn College was established, with
Senator Revels as its first president.

As an evidence of the necessity for such an institution it will not be
out of place to call attention to the fact that when the writer was
first elected to Congress in 1872, there was not one young colored man
in the State that could pass the necessary examination for a clerkship
in any of the Departments at Washington. Four years later the supply was
greater than the demand, nearly all of the applicants being graduates of
Alcorn College. At this writing the institution is still being
maintained by the State, although on a reduced appropriation and on a
plan that is somewhat different from that which was inaugurated at its
beginning and while the Republicans were in control of the State
government. One of the reasons, no doubt, why it is supported by a
Democratic administration, is that the State might otherwise forfeit and
lose the aid it now receives from the National Government for the
support of agricultural institutions. But, aside from this, there are
very many liberal, fair-minded and influential Democrats in the State
who are strongly in favor of having the State provide for the liberal
education of both races.

The knowledge I had acquired of parliamentary law not only enabled me to
take a leading part in the deliberations of the Legislature, but it
resulted in my being made Speaker of the House of Representatives that
was elected in 1871. Shortly after the adjournment of the first session
of the Legislature, the Speaker of the House, Hon. F.E. Franklin, of
Yazoo County, died. When the Legislature reassembled the first Monday in
January, 1871, Hon. H.W. Warren, of Leake County, was made Speaker of
the House. In addition to the vacancy from Yazoo, created by the death
of Speaker Franklin, one had also occurred from Lowndes County, which
was one of the safe and sure Republican counties. Through apathy,
indifference and overconfidence, the Democratic candidate, Dr. Landrum,
was elected to fill this vacancy. It was a strange and novel sight to
see a Democratic member of the Legislature from the rock-ribbed
Republican county of Lowndes. It was no doubt a source of considerable
embarrassment even to Dr. Landrum himself, for he was looked upon by all
as a marvel and a curiosity. When he got up to deliver his maiden speech
a few days after he was sworn in, he