Roll Call: Black Members of Congress
Bonnie Watson Coleman
Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman has represented New Jersey's 12th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives since 2015 (114th Congress-Present). She is the first African American woman to represent New Jersey in Congress. Before Congress, Watson...
Anthony Gregory Brown
Congressman Anthony Brown represented Maryland's 4th Congressional District from 2017 until 2023 when he retired to successfully run for Attorney General of Maryland (115th-117th Congresses). Brown served on the House Armed Services Committee, where he helped shape...
Hansen Clarke
Congressman Hansen Clarke represented Michigan's 13th Congressional District from 2011 to 2013 (113th Congress). Clarke served on the Committee on Homeland Security and the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology in Congress. Before his election, Clarke served as...
Joyce Beatty
Congresswoman Joyce Beatty has represented Ohio's 3rd Congressional District since 2013 (113th Congress-Present). Beatty serves on the House Committee on Financial Services where she is the ranking member of the Subcommittee on National Security, Illicit Finance, and...
Karen Bass
Congresswoman Karen Bass represented California's 37th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2011 through her resignation in 2022 to serve as Mayor of Los Angeles (112th-117th Congresses). Bass served on the House Committee on Foreign...
Ludmya Bourdeau (Mia) Love
Congresswoman Mia Love represented Utah's 4th Congressional District from 2015 to 2019 (114th-115th Congresses). She was the first African American elected to Congress from Utah and the first African American woman elected to Congress as a Republican. Before coming to...
Robin L. Kelly
Congresswoman Robin Kelly has represented Illinois' 2nd Congressional District since 2013 (113th Congress-Present). Kelly serves on the House Energy and Commerce Committee where she is a member of the Subcommittees on Health; Communications and Technology; and...
Stacey E. Plaskett
Congresswoman Stacey E. Plaskett has served as the delegate from the Virgin Islands' at-large Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives since 2015 (114th Congress-Present). She is currently a member of the House Select Subcommittee on the...
Danny K. Davis
Congressman Danny K. Davis has represented Illinois's 7th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives since 1997 (105th Congress-Present). Before coming to Congress, Davis was an educator, served on the Cook County Board of Commissioners, and was a...
Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick
Congresswoman Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick represented Michigan in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1997 to 2011 (105th-111th Congresses). Kilpatrick's committee assignments included the Banking and Financial Services, House Oversight, and Appropriations...
Julia May Carson
Congresswoman Julia Carson represented the 7th Congressional District of Indiana in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1997 until her death from lung cancer on December 15, 2007 (105th-110th Congresses). She was the first woman and first African American to serve...
Harold Ford, Jr.
Congressman Harold Ford, Jr. was a representative for Tennessee's 9th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1997 to 2007 (105th-109th Congresses). After his father, Harold Ford, Sr., announced his retirement from the House in 1996, Ford ran...
Elijah Eugene Cummings
Congressman Elijah Cummings was a representative for Maryland's 7th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1996 until his death in 2019 (104th-116th Congresses). Cummings previously served in the Maryland House of Delegates from 1983 to 1996...
Juanita Millender-McDonald
Congresswoman Juanita Millender-McDonald served as a representative of California's 37th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1996 until she died of cancer on April 22, 2007 (104th-110th Congresses). Millender-McDonald was the first African...
Sheila Jackson Lee
Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee represented the 18th Congressional District of Texas from 1995 until her death on July 19, 2024 (104th-118th Congresses). Before her career in Congress, Lee served as staff counsel for the U.S. House Select Committee on Assassinations,...
Chaka Fattah
Congressman Chaka Fattah served as representative for Pennsylvania's 2nd Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1995 to 2016 (104th-114th Congress). Before Congress, Fattah served in the Pennsylvania Senate and the Pennsylvania House of...
Jesse L. Jackson, Jr.
Congressman Jesse L. Jackson, Jr served Illinois's 2nd Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1995 to 2012 (104th -112th Congresses). Before entering the House, he was secretary of the Democratic National Committee's Black Caucus, the...
Julius Caesar (J.C.) Watts, Jr.
Congressman J.C. Watts represented Oklahoma's 4th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1995 to 2003 (104th-107th Congresses). He was the first Black representative elected from Oklahoma and the first Republican to win the district in 72...
Donna Marie Christensen
Congresswoman Donna Christensen was a delegate from the U.S. Virgin Islands in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1997 to 2015 (105th-113th Congresses). Before her tenure in Congress, Christensen was a practicing physician and medical director at several...
Barbara Lee
Congresswoman Barbara Lee has represented California districts in the U.S. House of Representatives since 1998 when she joined Congress by special election to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Representative Ronald Dellums (105th Congress-Present). Before...