Tunis Campbell

Tunis Gulic Campbell (April 1, 1812 – December 4, 1891) was an African-American politician of the 19th century, and a major figure in Reconstruction Georgia.

Born in Middlebrook, New Jersey, Tunis Campbell was one of nine other siblings. He was the son of a blacksmith. Campbell served as a Justice of the Peace, a delegate to the State Constitutional Convention, and as a Georgia state senator. He died in Boston, Massachusetts, on December 4, 1891.

Campbell was the principal waiter at the Howard Hotel in New York City for some time (at least from 1842–45), and later wrote a well-regarded 1848 guide to hotel management.

In 1867, with a goal to help freedmen vote, Campbell was appointed to the Board of Registration in Georgia. He was elected to congress as a senator in Georgia in 1868, only to be expelled from office because white congressmen agreed that blacks did not have the right to hold office. He was able to return to office in 1871, but lost a bid for re-election in 1872 and eventually was imprisoned in a Georgia labor camp before fleeing the state.

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