Roll Call: Black Members of Congress
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...
Barbara Charline Jordan
Congresswoman Barbara Jordan represented the 18th Congressional District of Texas from 1973 to 1979 (93rd-95th Congresses). She was the first African American to represent Texas and the first African American woman to represent a southern state in the U.S. House of...
Andrew Jackson Young, Jr.
Congressman Andrew Young represented Georgia's 5th Congressional District from 1973 to 1977 (93rd-95th Congresses). Young was the first Black representative from Georgia since Jefferson Long's election a century earlier. A pastor and civil rights activist, Young was...
Charles B. Rangel
Congressman Charles B. Rangel represented New York in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1971 to 2017 (92nd -114th Congresses). In Congress, Rangel worked to revitalize urban neighborhoods, make housing affordable housing, reduce unemployment, and diminish drug...
Ronald V. Dellums
Congressman Ronald Dellums represented California's 8th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1971 to 1998 (92nd-105th Congresses). Before entering Congress, Dellums had a career as a psychiatric social worker and served on the Berkeley City...
Walter Edward Fauntroy
Congressman Walter Fauntroy was the first African American delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives from the District of Columbia and the first African American delegate in Congress. In 1970, Congress passed the District of Columbia Delegate Act, which provided...
Edward William Brooke III
Senator Edward Brooke represented Massachusetts in the U.S. Senate from 1967 to 1979 (90th-95th Congresses). Before coming to the Senate, Brooke served as the attorney general of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. In 1966, he became the first African American...
Shirley Anita Chisholm
Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm was the first African American woman elected to Congress. Chisholm represented New York's 12th District from 1968 to 1982 (91st-97th Congresses). She served on the Education and Labor, Rules, and Veterans Affairs committees. During her...
Louis Stokes
Congressman Louis Stokes was as the first African American to represent Ohio in the U.S. House of Representatives, serving from 1969 to 1999 (91st-105th Congresses). Before his election to Congress, Stokes practiced law and participated in three cases in the United...
William Lacy Clay, Sr.
Congressman William Lacy Clay, Sr., represented Missouri's 1st Congressional District from 1969 to 2001 (91st-106th Congresses). When elected, Clay became the first African American representative from Missouri and one of only two African American representatives from...
Ralph Harold Metcalfe
Congressman Ralph Metcalfe represented Illinois' 1st Congressional District from 1971 until his death on October 10, 1978 (92nd-95th Congresses). Metcalfe served on the Interstate and Foreign Commerce, Merchant Marines and Fisheries, and Post Office and Civil Service...
Parren James Mitchell
Congressman Parren Mitchell served Maryland's 7th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1971 to 1987 (92nd-99th Congresses). He was the first African American to represent Maryland in Congress. He chaired the Congressional Black Caucus for...
Robert Carlos De Large
Congressman Robert De Large was born into slavery and later served in the U.S. House of Representatives as a representative of South Carolina from 1871 to 1873 (42nd Congress) where he served on the Manufactures Committee. After taking office, the district's former...
Robert Brown Elliott
Congressman Robert Elliott represented South Carolina in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1871 to 1874 (42nd-43rd Congresses), when he resigned to become Speaker of the South Carolina House of Representatives. Born in Liverpool, England, Elliott was a popular...
Josiah Thomas Walls
Congressman Josiah Walls was the first Black representative to the U.S. House of Representatives from Florida. He served from 1871 to 1873 and from 1875 to 1876 (42nd, portions of the 43rd and 44th Congresses). Walls was twice unseated by opponents who claimed he had...
Alonzo Jacob Ransier
Congressman Alonzo Ransier represented South Carolina in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1873 to 1875 (43rd Congress). He served on the Manufactures Committee. Although an outspoken advocate for the passage of the 1875 Civil Rights Act, he abstained from voting...
James Thomas Rapier
Congressman James Rapier was one of three Black representatives to Congress from Alabama during Reconstruction. He served for one term, from 1873 to 1875 (43rd Congress), and was assigned to the Education and Labor Committee. Rapier proposed the establishment of an...
Richard Harvey Cain
Congressman Richard Cain represented South Carolina in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1873 to 1875 and from 1877 to 1879 (43rd and 45th Congresses). Cain spoke out on behalf of the 1875 Civil Rights Act, which outlawed segregation but was later overturned....
Blanche Kelso Bruce
Senator Blanche Bruce escaped slavery at the outset of the Civil War and served as a Mississippi Senator from 1875 to 1881 (44th-46th Congresses). He was the first Black American to serve a full term in the U.S. Senate. During a debate on the Chinese exclusion bill in...
John Roy Lynch
Congressman John Lynch was the first Black American member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Mississippi and the youngest member of the 43rd Congress. He served from 1873 to 1877 and 1882 to 1883 (43rd-44th and 47th Congresses) and was assigned to the Mines...