American politician, born in Prince Edward County, VA, on the 1st of March 1841. He is an African, was born in slavery, and continued in servitude till the Civil War, when his young master enlisted in the Confederate army. Young Bruce had received some education from his master’s tutor, and he taught school in Hannibal, MO, and then entered Oberlin College. After the war he became a Mississippi planter, and was elected to several county and state offices, and in 1875 was elected on the Republican ticket to the United States Senate. Since 1868 he has been a member of every Republican convention. In 1881 he was appointed by President Garfield to the office of Register of the Treasury. Senator Bruce is highly esteemed as a platform lecturer as well as a politician.
