42 x 32 in. (106.7 x 81.3 cm)
Framed: 47 x 37 x 2 3/4 in. (119.4 x 94 x 7 cm)
Accession Number
2004.098.000
Credit Line
Collection of the U.S. House of Representatives
Object Details
The portrait of Joseph Rainey, the first African American elected to the House of Representatives, was unveiled in 2005. Artist Simmie Knox set the scene in House Connecting Corridor on the second floor of the Capitol. Rainey is seated in a distinctive House Chamber chair designed in 1857. The half-finished Washington Monument is visible through the window, both situating the scene historically and representing the nation’s incomplete journey toward equality.