
Rep. Joseph H. Rainey, born into slavery in 1832, was honored Thursday for being the first Black member of the House by formally having a room in the Capitol named after him. Top lawmakers and a descendant turned the ceremony into something more than that.
No. 3 House Democratic leader James Clyburn Rainey's great-granddaughter Lorna Rainey and others used the event to say the battle for racial justice and voting rights that Joseph Rainey championed must continue.