United States Senators and Representatives

Republican Party:

Hiram Revels (R-MS) became the first African American United States Senator.

In office:

February 25, 1870 – March 3, 1871

Republican Party:

Blanche K. Bruce (R-MS) was the first African American United States Senator to serve a full term.

In office:

December 3, 1897 – March 17, 1898

Republican Party:

Edward Brooke (R-MA) was the first African American United States Senator elected by popular vote.

In office:

January 3, 1967 – January 3, 1979

Republican Party:

P. B. S. Pinchback (R-LA) was the first African American to become governor of a U.S. state, and the elected Senator in 1873 but denied seat when election was challenged by white Democrats.

Republican Party:

Joseph Hayne Rainey (R-SC) was the first African American to serve in the United States House of Representatives.

In office:

December 12, 1870 - March 3, 1879

Republican Party:

Jefferson F. Long (R-GA) was the first African American United States congressman from Georgia and to speak on the floor of the U.S. House.

In office:

January 16, 1871 - March 3, 1871

Republican Party:

Robert C. De Large (R-SC) was earlier a delegate to the 1868 state constitutional convention and elected in 1868 for one term.

In office:

March 4, 1871 - January 24, 1873

Republican Party:

Robert B. Elliott (R-SC) "delivered a celebrated speech" in favor of the Civil Rights Act of 1875 and notable speech on the "Ku Klux Bill."

In office:

March 4, 1871 - November 1, 1874

Republican Party:

Benjamin S. Turner (R-AL) was unanimously nominated to be the Republican candidate from Alabama's 1st congressional district.

In office:

March 4, 1871 - March 3, 1873

Republican Party:

Josiah T. Walls (R-FL) was the first African American to be elected to Congress from Florida during the Reconstruction Era.

In office:

March 4, 1871 - January 29, 1873

Republican Party:

Richard H. Cain (R-SC) was elected to the Forty-third United States Congress in a newly created at-large district.

In office:

March 4, 1877 - March 3, 1879

Republican Party:

John R. Lynch (R-MS) was elected as the first African-American Speaker of the Mississippi House, first black man to hold this position.

In office:

April 29, 1882 - March 4, 1883

Republican Party:

Alonzo J. Ransier (R-SC) was first black Lieutenant Governor and later was the first congressman from South Carolina.

In office:

March 4, 1873 - March 3, 1875

Republican Party:

James T. Rapier (R-AL) worked for passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1875, which guaranteed equal access to public accommodations.

In office:

March 4, 1873 - March 3, 1875

Republican Party:

Jeremiah Haralson (R-AL) was among the first ten African-American Congressmen elected in the United States.

In office:

March 4, 1875 - March 3, 1877

Republican Party:

John Adams Hyman (R-NC) had a very successful election, swept eight counties including a newly created district.

In office:

March 4, 1875 - March 3, 1877

Republican Party:

Charles E. Nash (R-LA) was Louisiana's first African-American congressman and would remain the state's only black for more than a century.

In office:

March 4, 1875 - March 3, 1877

Republican Party:

Robert Smalls (R-SC) authored state legislation providing for South Carolina to have the first free and compulsory public school system.

In office:

March 18, 1884 – March 3, 1887

Republican Party:

James E. O'Hara (R-NC) was the second African American to be elected to Congress from North Carolina.

In office:

March 4, 1883 – March 3, 1887

Republican Party:

Henry P. Cheatham (R-NC) was one of only five African Americans elected to Congress from the South in the Jim Crow era.

In office:

March 4, 1889 – March 3, 1893

Republican Party:

John Mercer Langston (R-VA) was an abolitionist, diplomat, politician, and became the first dean of the law school at Howard University

In office:

September 23, 1890 – March 3, 1891

Republican Party:

Thomas E. Miller (R-SC) was a prominent leader in the struggle for civil rights in the American South during and after Reconstruction.

In office:

September 24, 1890 – March 3, 1891

Republican Party:

George W. Murray (R-NC) lectured on race relations and his political career, and published two collections of his speeches.

In office:

March 4, 1893 – March 3, 1895

Republican Party:

George Henry White (R-NC) later became a banker in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, a black community he co-founded.

In office:

March 4, 1897 – March 3, 1901

Republican Party:

Oscar Stanton De Priest (R-IL) was the first African American to be elected to Congress in the 20th century.

In office:

March 4, 1929 – January 3, 1935

Democratic Party:

Arthur W. Mitchell (D-IL) was the first African American to be elected to the United States Congress as a Democrat.

In office:

January 3, 1935 – January 3, 1943

Democratic Party:

William L. Dawson (D-IL) served as an officer in the segregated U.S. Army, active in the civil rights movement, and sponsored registration drives.

In office:

January 3, 1943 – November 9, 1970

Democratic Party:

Adam Clayton Powell Jr. (D-NY) was elected to Congress from New York, as well as the first from any state in the Northeast.

In office:

January 3, 1945 – January 3, 1971

Democratic Party:

Charles Diggs (D-MI) garnered national attention when he attended the trial of the two white Mississippians accused of murdering Emmett Till.

In office:

January 3, 1973 – January 3, 1979

Democratic Party:

Robert N. C. Nix Sr. (D-PA) rarely wanted or attracted widespread publicity, supported mostly liberal legislation, and reelected 10 times.

In office:

May 20, 1958 – January 3, 1979

Democratic Party:

Shirley Anita Chisholm (D-NY) became the first black woman elected to Congress and to run for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination.

In office:

January 3, 1969 – January 3, 1983

Democratic Party:

Louis Stokes (D-OH) was one of the Cold War-era chairmen of the House Intelligence Committee and headed the Congressional Black Caucus.

In office:

January 3, 1969 – January 3, 1999

Democratic Party:

George W. Collins (D-IL) was killed in a plane crash in 1972 at age 47. His wife Cardiss Collins was elected to his seat.

In office:

November 3, 1970 – December 8, 1972

Democratic Party:

Ron Dellums (D-CA) was the first African American elected from Northern California and the first successful openly socialist candidate.

In office:

January 3, 1995 – February 6, 1998

Democratic Party:

Ralph Metcalfe (D-IL) jointly held the world record in the 100-meter dash and placed second in that event in two Olympics.

In office:

January 3, 1971 – October 10, 1978

Democratic Party:

Parren Mitchell (D-MD) was one of the founding members of the Congressional Black Caucus and fought for affirmative action legislation.

In office:

January 3, 1971 – January 3, 1987

Democratic Party:

Barbara Jordan (D-TX) became the first African-American, and the first woman, to ever deliver a keynote address at a Democratic National Convention.

In office:

January 3, 1973 – January 3, 1979

Democratic Party:

Cardiss Hortense Collins (D-IL) was a champion for women's health and welfare issues. In 1979, she was elected as president of the Congressional Black Caucus.

In office:

June 5, 1973 – January 3, 1997

Democratic Party:

Julian C. Dixon (D-CA) had a role in obtaining the federal funding that enabled construction of the Metro Rail system.

In office:

January 3, 1979 – December 8, 2000

Democratic Party:

William H. Gray III (D-PA) resigned from Congress in September of that year to become president and chief executive officer of the United Negro College Fund.

In office:

January 3, 1979 – September 11, 1991

Democratic Party:

Mickey Leland (D-TX) was responsible for the passage of legislation that provided low-income consumers with access to affordable generic drugs.

In office:

January 3, 1979 – August 7, 1989

Democratic Party:

Bennett Stewart (D-IL) was a delegate to the State and National Democratic conventions.

In office:

January 3, 1979 – January 3, 1981

Democratic Party:

George Crockett Jr. (D-MI) co-founded what is believed to be the first racially integrated law firm in the United States.

In office:

November 4, 1980 – January 3, 1991

Democratic Party:

Mervyn Dymally (D-CA) was the first Trinidadian to serve California as State Senator and Lieutenant Governor.

In office:

January 3, 1981 – January 3, 1993

Democratic Party:

Gus Savage (D-IL) entered political life in 1948 as a Progressive Party organizer.

In office:

January 3, 1981 – January 3, 1993

Democratic Party:

Harold Washington's (D-IL) major congressional accomplishment involved legislation to extend the Voting Rights Act.

In office:

January 3, 1979 – January 3, 1981

Democratic Party:

Katie Hall (D-MI) co-founded what is believed to be the first racially integrated law firm in the United States.

In office:

March 22, 1965 – August 8, 1976

Democratic Party:

Major Owens (D-NY) shepherded the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 through the House.

In office:

January 3, 1983 – January 3, 2007

Democratic Party:

Charles Hayes (D-IL) was most noted for pieces of legislation to encourage school dropouts to re-enter and complete their education.

In office:

August 23, 1983 – January 3, 1993

Democratic Party:

John Lewis (D-GA) was one of the "Big Six" leaders of groups who organized the 1963 March on Washington.

In office:

January 3, 1987 – July 17, 2020

Democratic Party:

Donald M. Payne (D-NJ) was re-elected eleven times with no substantive opposition, never dropping below 75% of the vote.

In office:

January 3, 1989 – March 6, 2012

Democratic Party:

Lucien Blackwell (D-PA) sponsored first law to create opportunities for minorities and women to compete to obtain city contracts.

In office:

January 2, 1973 – January 3, 1995

Democratic Party:

Alcee Hastings (D-FL) served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives for Florida's 23rd and 20th congressional district.

In office:

January 3, 1993 – April 6, 2021

Democratic Party:

Juanita Millender-McDonald (D-CA) was known for her commitment to protecting international human rights.

In office:

March 26, 1996 – April 22, 2007

Democratic Party:

Elijah Cummings (D-MD) was reelected 11 more times in the contests which followed, never dropping below 69 percent of the vote.

In office:

April 16, 1996 – October 17, 2019

Democratic Party:

Julia Carson (D-IN) was the first woman and first African American to represent Indianapolis in the U.S. Congress.

In office:

January 3, 1997 – December 15, 2007

Democratic Party:

Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-OH) opposed the Iraq war, voting in 2002 against the use of military force.

In office:

January 3, 1999 – August 20, 2008

Democratic Party:

Frank Ballance (D-NC) was elected to represent North Carolina's 1st congressional district in 2002.

In office:

March 26, 1996 – April 22, 2007

Republican Party:

Melvin H. Evans (R-VI) was elected Delegate to the United States House of Representatives from U.S. Virgin Islands as a Republican.

In office:

January 3, 1979 – January 3, 1981