List of African-American United States Senators

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An African-American man in a black suit, a grey tie, and the U.S. Capitol dome behind the subject in the distance.
The official senate portrait of Barack Obama, the fifth African-American United States Senator who would later become the first African-American President

The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral United States Congress, which is the legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. Eight African Americans have served in the United States Senate.[1] No African American served in the elective office before the ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1870, which prohibits the federal government and state governments from denying any citizen the right to vote because of that citizen's race, color, or previous condition of servitude. Of the eight senators, three were popularly elected, two were elected by the Mississippi State Senate, and three were appointed by a state Governor. The 113th United States Congress marks the first time that two African Americans have served concurrently in the Senate.[2]

The first two African-American senators represented the state of Mississippi during the Reconstruction Era, following the American Civil War. Hiram Rhodes Revels, the first African American to serve, was elected by the Mississippi State Senate to succeed Albert G. Brown, who resigned during the Civil War. Members of the United States Senate opposed his being seated based on the Dred Scott Decision, claiming that Revels did not meet the citizenship requirement, until it was clarified that the Dred Scott Decision was overturned by the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution.[1] The Mississippi State Senate then elected Blanche Bruce in 1875, but Republicans lost power of the Mississippi State Senate, and Bruce was not elected to a second term in 1881.[1]

The next African-American United States Senator, Edward Brooke of Massachusetts, took office in 1967, the first to be elected by popular vote, rather than election of the state legislature.[1] Carol Moseley Braun and Barack Obama were both elected by the voters of Illinois, entering the Senate in 1993 and 2004, respectively.[1] While serving in the Senate, Obama became the first African American to be elected President of the United States,[3] and Roland Burris, also an African American, was appointed to fill the remainder of his term.[4] The next two African American Senators, Tim Scott of South Carolina and Mo Cowan of Massachusetts, were both appointed by their state's governors to fill the terms of Jim DeMint and John Kerry, respectively, who had resigned their positions.[1] Barack Obama remains the most recent African American to be elected to the Senate.

As of 2012, there had been 1,931 members of the United States Senate, but only six were African-American.[5] Sheila Jackson Lee, an African-American member of the United States House of Representatives, said "I frankly think it's a shame, and I think it is reflective of America sometimes still idling in the past." While 58 nationwide organizations existed to elect female candidates to the United States Congress As of 2012, including EMILY's List and the Susan B. Anthony List, no such organization exists to elect African-American candidates. Also, many African-American members of the House of Representatives sit in majority-minority districts that have been gerrymandered to the point where they do not face serious challenges to their re-election, which they would not experience if they ran a state-wide campaign, and limits their abilities to represent a larger, more diverse constituency.[6]

Contents

List of African-American U.S. Senators [edit]

Parties

      Democratic       Republican

Image Senator State Took office Left office Party Ref(s) Note(s)
A black and white photograph of an African American male in a suit sitting with a table on his right side Revels, Hiram RhodesHiram Rhodes Revels
(1827–1901)		 Mississippi 01870-02-23February 23, 1870 01871-03-03March 3, 1871 Republican [7][8]
A black and white photograph of an African American male in a suit sitting and resting his right arm on the table next to him Bruce, BlancheBlanche Bruce
(1841–1898)		 Mississippi 01875-03-04March 4, 1875 01881-03-04March 4, 1881 Republican [9][9] [note 1]
A black and white photograph of an African American male in a suit leaning forward with his hands folded in front of him Brooke, EdwardEdward Brooke
(1919–present)		 Massachusetts 01967-01-03January 3, 1967 01979-01-03January 3, 1979 Republican [11] [note 2]
A picture of an African American female in a black dress with an American flag pin and her left shoulder angled closer to the camera as she smiles, and an American flag stands behind her Braun, Carol MoseleyCarol Moseley Braun
(1947–present)		 Illinois 01993-01-03January 3, 1993 01999-01-03January 3, 1999 Democratic [12][13] [note 3]
An African American male smiles while crossing his arms in front of him, while the United States Capital is visible behind him Obama, BarackBarack Obama
(1961–present)		 Illinois 02005-01-03January 3, 2005 02008-11-16November 16, 2008 Democratic [3][14] [note 4]
An African American male with a mustache and a red tie smiles with an American flag behind him Burris, RolandRoland Burris
(1937–present)		 Illinois 02009-01-15January 15, 2009 02010-11-29November 29, 2010 Democratic [4] [note 5]
[note 6]
A bald African American male wearing a suit smiles in front of an American flag Scott, TimTim Scott
(1965–present)		 South Carolina 02013-01-02January 2, 2013 Incumbent Republican [15] [note 5]
A bald African American male wearing glasses, a suit shirt and a red tie with no jacket smiles Cowan, MoMo Cowan
(1969–present)		 Massachusetts 02013-02-01February 1, 2013 Incumbent Democratic [16] [note 7]
[note 5]

Notes [edit]

  1. ^ First African American to serve a full six-year term as senator and the only senator to be a former slave.[10]
  2. ^ First African American to be popularly elected, the first to be re-elected, and the first to be elected outside of the Southern states.[11]
  3. ^ First female African American and the first African American Democrat to serve in the Senate.[12]
  4. ^ First African American President of the United States.[3]
  5. ^ a b c Appointed by state's Governor to fill vacancy.
  6. ^ First African American to succeed another African American.[4]
  7. ^ First African American Senator appointed by an African American Governor (Deval Patrick).

See also [edit]

Portal icon Government of the United States portal
Portal icon African Americans portal

References [edit]

  1. ^ Weigel, David (January 30, 2013). "For the First Time Ever, We'll Have Two Black Senators Serving at the Same Time". Slate Magazine. Retrieved January 30, 2013. 
  2. ^ a b c "Obama, Barack, (1961 – )". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. United States Congress. Retrieved January 25, 2009. 
  3. ^ a b c "Burris, Roland, (1937 – )". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. United States Congress. Retrieved January 25, 2009. 
  4. ^ Desjardins, Lisa (April 4, 2012). "No African-American senators likely in near future". CNN.com. Retrieved February 9, 2013. 
  5. ^ Terkel, Amanda (September 27, 2012). "Senate Likely To Remain Without Black Members For Years". Retrieved February 9, 2013. 
  6. ^ "Revels, Hiram Rhodes, (1827–1901)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. United States Congress. Retrieved January 25, 2009. 
  7. ^ "Breaking New Ground – African American Senators". United States Senate. 2008. Retrieved January 25, 2009. 
  8. ^ a b "Bruce, Blanche Kelso, (1841–1898)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. United States Congress. Retrieved January 25, 2009. 
  9. ^ "Former Slave Presides over Senate". Historical Minutes Essays, 1878–1920. Senate Historical Office, The United States Senate. Retrieved January 4, 2013. 
  10. ^ a b "Brooke, Edward William, III, (1919 – )". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. United States Congress. Retrieved January 25, 2009. 
  11. ^ a b "Mosley Braun, Carol, (1947 – )". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. United States Congress. Retrieved January 25, 2009. 
  12. ^ "Carol Moseley Braun". Art & History Home. Senate Historical Office, The United States Senate. Retrieved January 4, 2013. 
  13. ^ "Barack Obama". Art & History Home. Senate Historical Office, The United States Senate. Retrieved January 4, 2013. 
  14. ^ Blake, Aaron; Cillizza, Chris (December 17, 2012). "Nikki Haley appoints Rep. Tim Scott to Senate". Washington Post. Retrieved January 5, 2013. 
  15. ^ Phillips, Frank (January 30, 2013). "William ‘Mo’ Cowan is Governor Deval Patrick’s pick to serve as interim US senator". Boston Globe. Retrieved January 30, 2013. 

External links [edit]
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