Alexander H. Curtis

Alexander H. Curtis (1829 – July 20, 1878) was an American politician, he served as a state legislator in the Alabama House of Representatives and the Alabama Senate during the Reconstruction Era.

Early life

Curtis was born 1829, a slave, in Raleigh, North Carolina on E. Haywood's plantation, then was taken to Alabama when ten years old in 1839. While young he worked as a servant and in a general store.

He also was one of the founders of Selma University and was described as an active member of the Second Baptist Church in Marion. He was the only African-American lawmaker to preside over the Alabama Senate during this era.

He was also a delegate to the 1876 Republican National Convention, and the 1878 Radical State Convention.

Death and legacy He died Saturday July 20, 1878, after falling from his buggy while travelling the lower Marion road with his companion Nick Stephens. He had been aspiring to run for Congress at the time of his death.

Two of his sons became physicians, William P. Curtis of Saint Louis, Missouri, and James Webb Curtis of Chicago; and his son Thomas Curtis was a dentist in Saint Louis.