Roll Call: Black Members of Congress
Sanford Dixon Bishop, Jr.
Congressman Sanford Bishop has represented Georgia's 2nd Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives since 1993 (103rd Congress-Present). Before his tenure in Congress, Bishop was a member of the Georgia House of Representatives and the Georgia Senate....
Corrine Brown
Congresswoman Corrine Brown represented Florida's 3rd Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1993 to 2017 (103rd-114th Congresses). Before her tenure in Congress, Brown served for ten years in the Florida House of Representatives and was a...
Eddie Bernice Johnson
Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson represented the 30th Congressional District of Texas in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1993 to 2023 (103rd-117th Congress). She was the first African American to serve in the House from the Dallas area. She was also the...
James Enos Clyburn
Congressman James Clyburn has represented South Carolina's 6th Congressional District since 1993 (103rd Congress-Present). Clyburn served as House Majority Whip from 2007 to 2009 (110th-111th Congresses) and from 2019 to 2023 (116th-117th Congresses). Before Congress,...
Alan Dupree Wheat
Congressman Alan Wheat represented Missouri's 5th Congressional District from 1983 to 1995 (98th-103rd Congresses). Before Congress, Wheat worked as an economist for the federal government and local organizations. He also served in the Missouri General Assembly. Wheat...
Major Robert Odell Owens
Congressman Major Owens represented congressional districts in New York from 1983 to 2007 (98th-110th Congresses). Trained as a librarian, Owens began his career at the Brooklyn Public Library. He became active in the Congress of Racial Equality and other community...
Edolphus Towns
Congressman Edolphus Towns represented congressional districts in New York from 1983 to 2013 (98th-112th Congresses). Towns was an Army veteran whose career included serving as a professor, public school teacher, and hospital administrator before his tenure in...
Alton R. Waldon, Jr.
Congressman Alton Waldon represented New York's 6th Congressional District from 1986 to 1987 (99th Congress). Before his congressional service, Waldon served in the New York State Assembly and New York State Senate. During his Congressional term, Waldon served on the...
John R. Lewis
Congressman John Lewis represented Georgia's 5th Congressional District from 1987 until his death on July 17, 2020 (100th-116th Congresses). Lewis began his public advocacy during the Civil Rights Movement of the mid-20th century. He was chairman of the Student...
Alphonso M. (Mike) Espy
Congressman Mike Espy represented Mississippi's 2nd Congressional District from 1987 until his resignation to become Secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 1993 (100th-103rd Congresses). When elected to Congress, Espy became the first African American to...
Charles Arthur Hayes
Congressman Charles Hayes represented Illinois's 1st Congressional District from 1983 to 1993 (98th-102nd Congresses). Hayes was the first trade unionist ever elected to Congress. Hayes was on the Education and Labor and Small Business committees, sponsoring bills to...
Katie Beatrice Hall
Congresswoman Katie Hall represented Indiana in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1982 to 1985 (97th-98th Congresses) after winning a special election to fill a vacancy. Hall was the first African American to service in the U.S. House of Representatives from the...
Mervyn Malcolm Dymally
Congressman Mervyn Dymally represented California's 31st District in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1981 to 1993 (97th-102nd Congresses). A longtime member of the California legislature before coming to Congress, Dymally was the first Back elected to statewide...
Gus Savage
Congressman Gus Savage represented the 2nd Congressional District of Illinois from 1981 to 1993 (97th-102nd Congresses). Savage was a veteran, civil rights activist, and pioneering African American journalist and publisher before becoming involved in local politics in...
Harold Washington
Congressman Harold Washington represented Illinois's 1st Congressional District from 1981 until his resignation to serve as Mayor of Chicago in April 1983 (96th-97th Congresses). Washington was actively engaged in Chicago politics as a lawyer and World War II veteran....
George William Crockett, Jr.
Congressman George Crockett represented Michigan's 13th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1980 to 1991 (96th-101st Congresses). At age 71, he was the oldest African American ever elected to Congress. Throughout his career, Crockett was a...
Julian Carey Dixon
Congressman Julian Dixon represented California in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1979 until his death on December 8, 2000 (96th-106th Congresses). Before his election to the House, Dixon was a lawyer and California State assemblyman. In Congress, Dixon served...
William Herbert Gray III
Congressman William Gray represented Pennsylvania's 2nd Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1979 to 1991 (96th-102nd Congresses). Gray was the first African American in Congress to chair the powerful and partisan Budget Committee and the...
George Thomas (Mickey) Leland
Congressman Mickey Leland represented Texas 18th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1979 until his death on August 7, 1989 (96th-101st Congresses). A Democrat and anti-poverty activist, Leland was known for his advocacy on hunger and...
Kweisi Mfume
Congressman Kweisi Mfume has represented Maryland's 7th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives since 2020 (116th Congress-Present). Mfume previously represented the same district in Congress from 1987 to 1996 (100th-104th Congresses). Mfume has an...