The Author Events Series presents Jim Clyburn | The First Eight : A Personal History of the Pioneering Black Congressmen Who Shaped a Nation
In Conversation with Governor Josh Shapiro
Montgomery Auditorium is now sold out, but tickets are still available for a live simulcast screening in a separate room at the Parkway Central Library. Standby seating will be available in the overflow room for guests who wish to wait for an opportunity to be seated in the main auditorium, if space permits. These standby seats will be available on a first come, first served basis. Auditorium seats are not guaranteed.
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 is 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.
Governor Josh Shapiro is the 48th Governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Governor Shapiro is focused on bringing people together to get stuff done and deliver real solutions to the challenges Pennsylvanians face. In his first years as Governor, Shapiro has delivered: making historic investments in public schools, delivered free breakfast for 1.7 million students, securing the largest private sector investment in Pennsylvania history, invested in law enforcement and public safety, did away with the college degree requirement for state government jobs, launched automatic voter registration for Pennsylvanians, rebuilt I-95 in just 12 days, and more. Since taking office, Governor Shapiro has shown up all across the Commonwealth, meeting and listening to Pennsylvanians from all walks of life in communities big and small – from small business owners, teachers, and first responders, to the barbers, farmers, nurses, parents, and students that are driving us forward. Prior to serving as Governor, Shapiro served as Attorney General – Pennsylvania’s top law enforcement official. During the 2020 presidential election, he protected the right to vote and defended Pennsylvania’s elections, winning in court dozens of times. Governor Shapiro is married to his high school sweetheart, First Lady Lori Shapiro, and they have four children: Sophia, Jonah, Max, and Reuben.
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Books will be available for purchase at the library on event night!
All tickets are non-refundable.
