Henry E. Hayne

Henry E. Hayne (b.c.1840- d.n.d.) was a Republican politician in South Carolina during the Reconstruction era. He was elected to the state legislature and then as Secretary of State in 1872. Born into slavery, he was of mixed race; his mother was mulatto and his white father was a planter and state politician. Hayne received some education. Later while serving as secretary of state, in 1873 Hayne enrolled as the first student of color in the University of South Carolina medical school.

Early life and career

Henry E. Hayne was born c.1840 into slavery; his mixed-race mother was a slave and his father was a white planter and state politician. His father arranged for him to get some education, a kind of social capital to help him in his later life.

Reconstruction era and political career

During Reconstruction, Hayne became active in the Republican Party, which had supported citizenship and suffrage for freedmen. He was elected in 1870 to represent Marion County in the South Carolina Senate. He was next elected Secretary of State of South Carolina, serving from 1872 to 1877.

While serving as secretary of state, in the fall of 1873 Hayne enrolled in the medical school of the University of South Carolina, becoming the university's first black student. He was majority white in ancestry. The event made national news and was covered by The New York Times; it described Hayne “as white as any of his ancestors”. Some faculty resigned in protest.

After Democrats regained control of the state legislature and governor's office in the election of 1876, in early 1877 they closed the college by legislative fiat. The Assembly passed a law prohibiting blacks from admission to the college, and authorized Claflin College in Orangeburg as the only institution for higher education for blacks in the state. Hayne completed his education elsewhere.