[2] His father, Edward Rainey had been allowed by his master to work independently to earn money and develop a successful business as a barber.

[3] In 1859, Rainey traveled to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he met and married Susan, a free woman of color from the West Indies, who was also of African-French descent.

[2] In 1861, with the outbreak of the American Civil War, Rainey was among the free black people who were conscripted by the Confederates to work on fortifications in Charleston, South Carolina.

In 1862, Rainey and his family escaped to the British Imperial fortress colony of Bermuda, 640 miles off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.

In 1870, 43 percent of the city's population was African American, including many people of color who, like Rainey, had been free and held skilled jobs before the war.

His experience and wealth helped establish him as a leader and he quickly became involved in politics, joining the executive committee of the state Republican Party.

He served only a short time as that year he won a special election as a Republican to fill a vacancy in the 41st United States Congress.

We are here enacting laws for the country and casting votes upon important questions; we have been sent here by the suffrages of the people, and why cannot we enjoy the same benefits that are accorded to our white colleagues on this floor?

[12] Beginning in 1874, paramilitary terrorist groups such as the Red Shirts in North and South Carolina and Louisiana had acted openly as the military arm of the Democratic Party to suppress black voting.

In July 1876, six black people were murdered in the Hamburg Massacre and, in October, between 25 and 100 were killed by white paramilitary groups in several days of violence in Ellenton, both in contested Aiken County, South Carolina.

Richardson challenged the result as invalid on the grounds of intimidation of Democrats by federal soldiers and black militias guarding the polls, but Rainey retained his seat.

In mid-1878, Rainey warned President Hayes of increasing violence and rhetoric meant to limit the African-American vote in South Carolina.

[15] In 1878, Rainey was defeated in a second contest with Richardson, although black men continued to be elected for numerous local offices through much of the 19th century.

White Democrats used their dominance of the state legislature to pass laws for segregation, Jim Crow and making voter registration more difficult, effectively disenfranchising black people.

After leaving the U.S. Congress, Rainey was appointed as a federal agent of the US Treasury Department for internal revenue in South Carolina.