Yvonne Braithwaite Burke

Congresswoman Yvonne Brathwaite Burke represented California’s 28th Congressional District from 1973 to 1979 (93rd-95th Congresses) in the U.S. House of Representatives. Before Congress, she was the first African American woman elected to California’s House of Representatives. In Congress, Braithwaite Burke served on the Interior and Insular Affairs, Public Works, Appropriations, and Select Assassinations committees as well as the Select Committee on the House Beauty Shop (chair, 94th-95th Congresses). She became the first female chair of the Congressional Black Caucus in 1976. Burke focused her efforts on improving the lives of children, encouraging economic development, and improving transportation in Los Angeles. Throughout her career, she also has fought for prison reform, improved childcare, equal opportunities for minorities and women, and education. Before her tenure in Congress, Burke was the first African American woman to serve in the California State Assembly. Burke received a bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Los Angeles, and a law degree from the University of Southern California School of Law.