Robert B. Vance

The Civil Rights Act of 1866 declared that all African Americans were citizens and forbade states from discriminating on the basis of race. Although the act helped improve the civil rights of blacks, many Republican politicians—most notably Massachusetts senator Charles Sumner—believed that stronger legislation was needed. Sumner proposed a second civil rights bill in 1870, which would ban segregated schools and discrimination in a number of public places. Congress debated the legislation for nearly five years, at the conclusion of which the Civil Rights Act of 1875 became law. However, the approved legislation did not include several of Sumner’s original proposals, in particular the ban on segregated schools.

Robert B. Vance, a former Confederate officer and a Democratic representative from North Carolina, spoke out against the proposed legislation on January 10, 1874. Vance...