Jim Clyburn, The First Eight in Kansas City

Enjoy an intimate discussion of "The First Eight," Congressman Clyburn's recently released book on the eight African American Members of Congress from South Carolina who preceded him in office during the Reconstruction Era of the late 1800s.

This event takes place at the Historic Paseo YMCA and includes a talk from the author and an opportunity to get your book signed.

The first 100 tickets with books have kindly been donated by the Kansas City Friends of Representative Jim E. Clyburn.

The First Eight: A Personal History of the Pioneering Black Congressmen Who Shaped a Nation

From one of America’s most venerable politicians, the powerful, untold story of the pioneering Black congressmen from South Carolina who were elected in the aftermath of the Civil War, revealing why it took nearly a century before the ninth, James Clyburn, was elected.

Today, South Carolina congressman James E. Clyburn is renowned as a Democratic kingmaker and our nation’s most august Black political leader. But behind him stand eight other remarkable men: the first Black politicians to go to Congress from his home state, and who blazed a path for his own ascent. Since his own arrival in Congress in the early nineties, Congressman Clyburn has been guided by the wisdom and example of these men, and also instructed by their struggles—especially with the demon of American racism. South Carolina’s first eight Black congressmen all rose to office following the Civil War and emancipation, but then the dark veil of Jim Crow fell across the South. It would take nearly a century before the ninth Black representative, Clyburn himself, was elected.

In The First Eight, Congressman Clyburn shares these men’s stories, and their message of liberty, with the nation they served. Among them are Joseph Rainey, the first Black politician to be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in our nation’s history, who was born enslaved in 1832; Robert Smalls, iconic for his heroism during the Civil War, when he fled the Confederacy, stole a ship, and fought for the Union Army; and Richard Cain, who ran a widely read newspaper for Black South Carolinians and is associated with the Emanuel AME Church, one of the oldest and most distinguished Black churches in America, and where neo-Nazi Dylan Roof killed nine Black congregants in a mass shooting in 2015. Through the trials, tribulations, triumphs, and challenges that all nine men faced, Congressman Clyburn reveals a whole new way of understanding the period between the Civil War and the present.

A unique blend of history and memoir, The First Eight is both a monument to the legacies of these eight trailblazing Americans, and also a clear-eyed appraisal of how far we’ve come, and how far we have left to go, in our nation’s ongoing struggle for true democracy.

James E. Clyburn, the Congressman representing South Carolina’s 6th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives, where he previously served as Majority Whip. A more than 30-year Congressional veteran, he has been an influential and effective legislative leader and an unwavering voice for civil rights. Born in Sumter, South Carolina, during the Jim Crow era, he has been awarded the NAACP’s highest honor – the Spingarn Medal, the Lyndon Baines Johnson Foundation’s Liberty and Justice for All Award, the Harry S. Truman Foundation’s Good Neighbor Award, and holds honorary degrees from nearly 40 colleges and universities. In 2024, he was bestowed the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the United States.

Dianne & Congressman Emanuel Cleaver lI

Julana Harper-Sachs & Adam P. Sachs

Kerry Adam

Dr. Kimberly Beatty & Kelvin Beatty

Hon. Alvin Brooks

Prof. Julie Cheslik & Paul Black

Gwendolyn Grant

Bob Kendrick

Kim & Nikki Newton

Steve Swartzman

Please Note: There are no refunds for this event. If you are unable to attend, your book will be available for pickup at Rainy Day Books starting the following day. If you are not local, we'll be happy to mail it to you upon request. Thank you for your support!

We will hold your event book in-store for a maximum of 6 months following the event. If you have not retrieved your book in that time period, it will be donated.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

1824 W Paseo Blvd, 1824 West Paseo Boulevard, Kansas City, United States

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