Joseph Marion Hernandez

As silhouettes portrayed men and women from all walks of life, we find some portraits of surprising firsts, such as this image of Joseph Marion Hernández, who was Florida’s first delegate to the House of Representatives and the first Hispanic member of Congress. Hernández, born in Florida when it was under Spanish rule, later became an American citizen. His three plantations produced rice, cotton, oranges, and sugar using slave labor. After his unsuccessful run for the U.S. Senate in 1845, he moved to Cuba to manage his family’s sugar estate.