John Adams Hyman (July 23, 1840 – September 14, 1891) was a U.S. Congressman from North Carolina from 1875 to 1877. A Republican, he was the first African American to represent the state in the House of Representatives. He was elected from North Carolina's 2nd congressional district, including counties in the northeast around New Bern. Earlier he served in the North Carolina Senate.
Early life
Born into slavery on July 23, 1840, near Warrenton, North Carolina, Hyman was later enslaved in Alabama. Hyman did not receive any formal education as a child. By 1861, he had returned to North Carolina and was working as a janitor for a jeweler named King in Warrenton. King was from Pennsylvania and taught Hyman to read and write; when this was discovered by whites in town, they forced King and his wife to leave the community. In twenty-five years as a slave, Hyman was sold at least eight times.
Post-Civil War and political career
After the Civil War and the emancipation of enslaved people, Hyman returned to North Carolina in 1865. Democrats in the legislature had established the district to try to reduce black influence in politics in other parts of the state, as this was a black-majority area. The freedmen and previously free blacks elected all but two Republican representatives for the next quarter century. Hyman served for one term (March 4, 1875 – March 3, 1877). After unsuccessfully running for the Republican renomination to Congress in 1876 and losing to Curtis Brogden, the immediate past governor, Hyman returned to agricultural pursuits.
Hyman was appointed as special deputy collector of internal revenue for the fourth district of North Carolina from July 1, 1877 to June 30, 1878.
He moved to Washington, D.C., after being accused of misappropriating church funds. He was survived by his wife and four children. He was buried in Columbian Harmony Cemetery in Washington, D.C.