Document Signed as Collector of Internal Revenue for the Second Alabama District, 1881

Fine. A single page document, signed by Rapier, showing collection revenue from a retail dealer in malt liquors. James Rapier was an African-American politician during the reconstruction era who served as United States Representative from Alabama from 1873-1875. After losing a re-election bid to Jaramiah Haralson in 1877, Rapier turned his attention to the emigration movement. "Appointed collector of internal revenue for the Second Alabama District in 1877, he used the office to urge former slaves to leave Alabama and settle in the West. The black man, he asserted, would never be accorded equal rights or economic opportunity in the South. He traveled several times to Kansas, purchased land for a settlement in Wabaunsee County along the route of the Kansas-Pacific Railway, gave pro-emigration speeches in Alabama, and testified in Washington, D.C., before a Senate committee on emigration." - ANB. A fine example of a scarce signature, with minimal wear to the document.