The educator and senator memorialized in South Carolina

Benjamin Franklin Randolph was an African-American politician and educator. Born in Kentucky in 1820, he moved with his family to Ohio as a child, where he attended school before matriculating at Oberlin College. He later served as the principal of a public school for black students in Buffalo, New York, and volunteered to serve in the Civil War for the Union in December 1863.

Randolph joined the 26th Regiment Infantry U.S. Colored Troops at Rikers Island, New York, serving as its chaplain. The unit was deployed to Beaufort, South Carolina and participated in actions at the Battle of John's Island, the Battle of Honey Hill, and the Battle of Tulifinny. As Chaplain, Randolph's duties included writing letters for members of the regiment and assisting the regimental hospital attendant, Noah Elliott, with care of the sick and wounded. The unit was mustered out in South Carolina in August 1865.

Randolph remained in South Carolina during Reconstruction and served as an assistant superintendent for education in Charleston and as a delegate to the 1868 South Carolina Constitutional Convention. He played a crucial role in establishing the first universal public education system in the state and was elected as a delegate to the 1868 Republican National Convention, where he was one of the first African American Electors in the US. Randolph was assassinated on October 16, 1868. While a witness later confessed to involvement in the assassination as a member of the Ku Klux Klan, a county coroner's inquest in Hodges found that no attacker could be identified.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons