List of African-American U.S. state firsts

See also: List of African-American firsts

African Americans are a demographic minority in the United States. African-Americans' initial achievements in various fields historically establish a foothold, providing a precedent for more widespread cultural change. The shorthand phrase for this is "breaking the color barrier."

In addition to major, national- and international-level firsts, African-Americans have achieved firsts on a statewide basis.

19th century

• 1868

First elected African-American lieutenant governor: Oscar Dunn, Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana

First 33 African-American legislators in Georgia: see Original 33

• 1870

May: First African-American acting governor: Oscar James Dunn of Louisiana from May till August 9, 1871, when sitting Governor Warmoth was incapacitated and chose to recuperate in Mississippi. (See also: Douglas Wilder, 1990)

• 1872

First African-American governor of Louisiana: P. B. S. Pinchback (Also first in U.S.) (Non-elected; see also Douglas Wilder, 1990)

• 1873

First African-American Speaker of the Mississippi House of Representatives, and of any state legislature: John R. Lynch

First African American elected to the Tennessee General Assembly: Sampson W. Keeble

• 1876

First African American elected to the Illinois General Assembly: John W. E. Thomas

• 1879

First African American elected to the Wyoming Legislature: William Jefferson Hardin

• 1880

First African-American elected to the Indiana general assembly: James Sidney Hinton

• 1889

First African-American female principal in Massachusetts and the Northeast: Maria Louise Baldwin, supervising white faculty and a predominantly white student body at the Agassiz Grammar School in Cambridge (renamed the Maria L. Baldwin School in 2004).

• 1893

First African-American member elected to the Michigan House of Representatives: William Webb Ferguson

• 1898

First African-American member elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives: John Francis Wheaton

20th century

• 1918

First African-American elected to political office in California: Frederick Madison Roberts, California State Assembly

• 1920

First African-American elected to the Missouri legislature: Walthall Moore

• 1924

First African-American elected to the Illinois Senate: Adelbert Roberts

• 1930

First African Americans elected as judges in the state of New York: James S. Watson and Charles E. Toney

• 1938

First African-American woman to be elected to the Pennsylvania General Assembly and to any state legislature: Crystal Bird Fauset

• 1950

First African-American woman to be elected to the West Virginia Legislature: Elizabeth Simpson Drewry

First African-American woman to be elected to the Michigan Legislature: Charline White

• 1955

First African-American woman elected to the New York State Legislature: Bessie A. Buchanan

First African-American elected to the Maryland State Senate: Harry A. Cole

• 1957

First African-American woman elected to the New Jersey Legislature: Madaline A. Williams

• 1958

First African-American women elected to the Maryland General Assembly: Verda F. Welcome and Irma George Dixon

First African-American woman elected to the Illinois General Assembly: Floy Clements

• 1962

First African-American attorney general of Massachusetts: Edward Brooke. Also first African American to hold Massachusetts statewide office, and first African-American attorney general of any state.

• 1964

First African-American woman elected to the Indiana Legislature: Daisy Riley Lloyd

First African-American woman elected to the New York State Senate: Constance Baker Motley

• 1966

First African-American woman elected to the Texas Legislature: Barbara Jordan

First African American known lesbian state legislator: Barbara Jordan

First African-American woman elected to the Georgia General Assembly: Grace Towns Hamilton

First African-American appointed to New York State Board of Regents: Kenneth Bancroft Clark

First African-American senator from Massachusetts: Edward Brooke. (Also first post-Reconstruction African American elected to the U.S. Senate and first African American elected to the U.S. Senate by popular vote).

First African-American woman in the California Legislature: Yvonne Brathwaite Burke

First African-American woman elected to the Tennessee General Assembly: Dorothy Lavinia Brown

First African-American woman elected to the Arizona Legislature: Ethel Maynard

• 1967

First African-American woman admitted to the Mississippi Bar: Marian Wright Edelman

First African-American woman elected to the Montana Legislature: Geraldine W. Travis

• 1969

First African-American elected mayor of a Mississippi city since Reconstruction: Charles Evers, in Fayette, Mississippi

• 1970

First African-Americans elected to the Alaska Legislature: Willard L. Bowman and Joshua Wright

First African-American woman elected to the Florida Legislature: Gwen Cherry

• 1971

First African-American woman elected to the Washington Legislature: Peggy Maxie

• 1973

First African-American woman elected to the Massachusetts General Court: Doris Bunte

First African-American woman elected to the Connecticut General Assembly: Margaret Morton

• 1975

First African-American woman elected to the South Carolina Legislature: Juanita Goggins

• 1977

First African-American to serve on the California Supreme Court: Wiley W. Manuel

First African-American speaker of the South Carolina House of Representatives, and of any state legislature in the United States since Reconstruction: K. Leroy Irvis

First African-American woman elected to the Wisconsin Legislature: Marcia Coggs

First African-American woman elected to the Illinois Senate: Earlene Collins

• 1978

First African-American woman elected to the Ohio Legislature: Helen Rankin

• 1979

First African-American elected to a statewide office in Illinois: Roland Burris, office of Comptroller

First African-American elected to a statewide office in Wisconsin: Vel Phillips, office of Secretary of State

• 1980

First African-American speaker of the California State Assembly: Willie Lewis Brown, Jr.

• 1981

First African-American woman elected to the Arkansas General Assembly: Irma Hunter Brown

First African-American elected to the Utah Senate: Terry Williams

• 1984

First African-American elected to a statewide office in Georgia: Robert Benham, Supreme Court of Georgia

First African-American woman to be elected to the Virginia General Assembly: Yvonne B. Miller

• 1985

First African-American woman to be elected to the Mississippi Legislature: Alyce Clarke

First African-American woman elected to the Oregon Legislature: Margaret Carter

• 1988

First African-American elected to the Wyoming Legislature: Harriet Elizabeth Byrd

• 1990

First African-American governor of Virginia: Douglas Wilder (Also first elected governor in US; see also P. B. S. Pinchback, 1872)

First African-American woman elected to the Alaska Legislature: Bettye Davis

• 1992

First African-American elected to a statewide office in Indiana: Pamela Carter, office of Attorney General

First African-American Minnesota Supreme Court justice: Alan Page

• 1993

First African-American senator from Illinois: Carol Moseley Braun. (Also first African-American woman elected to the United States Senate, the first African-American U.S. Senator for the Democratic Party, the first woman to defeat an incumbent U.S. Senator in an election, and the first female Senator from Illinois).

• 1994

First African-American woman elected to the Nevada Legislature: Bernice Mathews

• 1996

First African-American woman elected to the Oregon Legislature: Avel Gordly

• 1998

First African-American woman elected State Treasurer and first African-American woman elected statewide in Connecticut: Denise Nappier

First African-American elected to office of Attorney General Georgia: Thurbert E. Baker,

21st century

• 2001

First African-American woman elected to the Minnesota Legislature: Neva Walker

• 2002

First African-American lieutenant governor of Maryland and first elected to statewide office in Maryland: Michael Steele (See also: 2009)

• 2004

First African-American Oklahoma Supreme Court justice: Tom Colbert

First African-American Wisconsin Supreme Court justice: Louis B. Butler

First African-American Auditor of Accounts of Vermont and first elected to statewide office in Vermont: Randy Brock

• 2006

First African-American elected governor of Massachusetts: Deval Patrick

First African-American lieutenant governor of New York: David Paterson

• 2008

First African-American woman elected Speaker of the California State Assembly: Karen Bass

First African-American governor of New York State: David Paterson (elected as lieutenant governor, succeeded on resignation of previous governor)

First African-American women elected to the Nebraska Legislature: Tanya Cook and Brenda Council

• 2009

First bicameral state legislature to have both chambers headed simultaneously by African Americans: Peter Groff and Terrance Carroll of Colorado.

• 2010

First African-American attorney general of California: Kamala Harris

First African-American Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court: Roderick L. Ireland

First African-American elected to the Idaho Legislature: Cherie Buckner-Webb

• 2012

First African-American elected to the Idaho Senate: Cherie Buckner-Webb

• 2013

First African-American senator from South Carolina: Tim Scott (Also the first African-American to serve both houses of the U.S. Congress.)

First African-American woman to be appointed to a seat on the New York Court of Appeals: Sheila Abdus-Salaam.

• 2014

First African-American senator elected from the South since Reconstruction: Tim Scott

• 2015

First African-American elected Speaker of the New York State Assembly: Carl Heastie

First African-American Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky and first elected to statewide office in Kentucky: Jenean Hampton

First African-American woman elected to the Utah Legislature: Sandra Hollins

• 2017

First African-American elected lieutenant governor of New Jersey: Sheila Oliver

First African-American male to female transwoman to be elected to public office in the United States: Andrea Jenkins

First African-American mayor of Saint Paul, Minnesota: Melvin Carter

• 2018

First female African-American major-party candidate for governor: Stacey Abrams, Georgia

First African-American elected lieutenant governor of Illinois: Juliana Stratton

See also

• List of first African American mayors