Joseph H. Rainey, a former Bermuda resident who became the first black man to be elected to the US Congress, is to have his portrait hung in the Capitol building.

Rainey, from South Carolina, was conscripted into the Confederacy during the US Civil War of 1860-61, but he fled to Bermuda and set up a barber's shop, reputedly at the back of Tucker House in St. George's.

He returned to Georgetown, South Carolina around 1866, and became a member of the South Carolina Republican Party executive committee.

But in1870 he made history as the first black person to sit in Congress when he was elected to serve South Carolina in the House of Representatives.

The Old Town has commemorated the pioneering African American by naming Barber's Alley after the street where Rainey is said to have had his barber's shop while his wife made dresses.

Now the US Congress has decided to add his face to the more than 300 portraits which hang in the Capitol building in Washington.

“In symbol and in substance, African American representation in the US Congress is a continuing milestone towards a more perfect union. In recognising the legacy of the first African American in Congress, we inspire future generations to serve,” said Congressman Chaka Fattah, a Democrat of Pennsylvania, who led the effort for the House Administration Committee to make this decision.

“Out of over 300 portraits in the US Capitol, we are finally getting this long overdue acknowledgement.”

Rainey, who served until 1878, joined the Committee on Freedmen's Affairs, advocating an end to racial discrimination and the use of the military to protect black voters from the violence of the Ku Klux Klan.

Rainey remained in office through the forty-third Congress and eventually became a member of the Indian Affairs Committee. During a debate on a related appropriations bill, he replaced then Speaker James Blaine as chair and presided over a House session, becoming the first African-American to do so.

When informed of the news by The Royal Gazette last night, St. George's mayor Henry Hayward said he was delighted Rainey was finally being recognised in Congress.

“I had never heard of this (portrait) until you mentioned it to me now, but it is a recognition for him and a recognition of the historical links between ourselves and the US,” said Mr. Hayward.

“We have recognised him here in St. George's with Barber's Alley named after the fact that he was there.

“It underlines and emphasises the importance and significance of St. George's relationship to historical developments in the US.”