African Americans in Congress

Name

Years of Service

State

District

Party

Of Special Interest

Senators
Revels, Hiram Rhoades	1870-1871	MS		Republican	First black elected to Senate.
Bruce, Blanche Kelso	1875-1881	MS		Republican
Brooke, Edward W.	1967-1979	MA		Republican
Moseley-Braun, Carol	1993-1999	IL		Democratic	First black woman elected to Senate.
Obama, Barack	2005-	IL		Democratic
Representatives
Rainey, Joseph H.	1870-1879	SC	1st	Republican	First black member of the House; elected in a special election after the House declared the seat of Benjamin Whittemore vacant.
Long, Jefferson Franklin	1870-1871	GA	4th	Republican	In 1871 delivered the first speech on the floor of Congress by a black member; elected in a special election after the House declared the seat of Samuel Grove vacant.
Elliott, Robert B.	1871-1874	SC	3rd	Republican	Resigned from office, November 1, 1874.
DeLarge, Robert C.	1871-1873	SC	2nd	Republican	Seat declared vacant after his election was successfully contested, January 24, 1873.
Turner, Benjamin S.	1871-1873	AL	1st	Republican	Wanted to grant amnesty to former Confederates.
Walls, Josiah T.	1871-1873, 1873-1876	FL	At-large	Republican	Lost seat in 1873 when Silas L. Niblack successfully challenged his election; lost seat in 1876 when Jesse J. Finley successfully challenged his election.
Cain, Richard Harvey	1873-1875, 1877-1879	SC	At-large	Republican
Lynch, John R.	1873-1877, 1882-1883	MS	6th	Republican	Successfully contested the election of James R. Chalmers.
Ransier, Alonzo J.	1873-1875	SC	2nd	Republican
Rapier, James T.	1873-1875	AL	2nd	Republican
Haralson, Jeremiah	1875-1877	AL	1st	Republican	Noted as a conservative African American during Reconstruction, he was a friend of former Confederate president Jefferson Davis.
Hyman, John A.	1875-1877	NC	2nd	Republican
Nash, Charles E.	1875-1877	LA	6th	Republican
Smalls, Robert	1875-1879, 1882-1883, 1884-1887	SC	5th	Republican	Successfully contested the election of George Tillman to win first term; elected in 1884 in a special election after the death of Edmund Mackey.
O'Hara, James E.	1883-1887	NC	2nd	Republican
Cheatham, Henry P.	1889-1893	NC	2nd	Republican
Langston, John Mercer	1890-1891	VA	4th	Republican	Successfully contested the election of Edward C. Venable.
Miller, Thomas E.	1890-1891	SC	7th	Republican	Successfully contested the election of William Elliott.
Murray, George Washington	1893-1895, 1896-1897	SC	7th	Republican	Successfully contested election of William Stokes to serve his second term.
White, George Henry	1897-1901	NC	2nd	Republican	Only black member of Congress during his tenure; 28 years would pass before another black member was seated.
DePriest, Oscar	1929-1935	IL	1st	Republican	Sponsored legislation to make Abraham Lincoln's birthday a holiday.
Mitchell, Arthur W.	1935-1943	IL	1st	Democratic	Switched during his political career from Republican to Democrat and became the first black Democrat elected to Congress.
Dawson, William L.	1943-1970	IL	1st	Democratic	Died in office, November 9, 1970.
Powell, Adam Clayton, Jr.	1945-1967, 1969-1971	NY	18th	Democratic	Reelected in 1966 but excluded by Congress and not seated; reelected to the seat vacated by his exclusion but never took the oath of office; reelected in 1968 and seated.
Diggs, Charles C., Jr.	1955-1980	MI	13th	Democratic	Resigned from office, June 3, 1980.
Nix, Robert N. C., Sr.	1958-1979	PA	2nd	Democratic	Elected in a special election, replacing Earl Chudoff.
Hawkins, Augustus F.	1963-1991	CA	29th	Democratic	Restored the honorable discharges of the 167 black soldiers dismissed from the 25th Infantry after being unjustly accused of a public disturbance in Brownsville, Texas, in 1906.
Conyers, John, Jr.	1965-	MI	14th	Democratic	Principal sponsor of the Martin Luther King Holiday bill.
Chisholm, Shirley Anita	1969-1983	NY	12th	Democratic	First black woman elected to Congress; first black woman to run for president (1972).
Clay, William L.	1969-2001	MO	1st	Democratic
Stokes, Louis	1969-1999	OH	21st	Democratic
Collins, George W.	1970-1972	IL	6th	Democratic	Elected in a special election after the death of Daniel J. Ronan; killed in airplane crash December 8, 1972.
Dellums, Ronald V.	1971-1998	CA	8th	Democratic	Primary sponsor of the legislation that ended U.S. support of the apartheid government in South Africa.
Fauntroy, Walter E.	1971-1991	DC	At-large	Democratic	Elected in a special election as first D.C. nonvoting delegate.
Metcalfe, Ralph H.	1971-1978	IL	1st	Democratic	Died in office, October 10, 1978.
Mitchell, Parren J.	1971-1987	MD	7th	Democratic
Rangel, Charles B.	1971-	NY	15th	Democratic
Burke, Yvonne B.	1973-1979	CA	28th	Democratic	First woman to give birth while serving in Congress.
Collins, Cardiss	1973-1997	IL	7th	Democratic	Elected in a special election after the death of husband George Collins.
Jordan, Barbara C.	1973-1979	TX	18th	Democratic
Young, Andrew J., Jr.	1973-1977	GA	5th	Democratic	Resigned January 29, 1977, to become U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations.
Ford, Harold E., Sr.	1975-1997	TN	9th	Democratic	Named Child Advocate of the Year in 1987 by the Child Welfare League of America for his work on welfare reform.
Dixon, Julian C.	1979-2000	CA	32nd	Democratic	Died of heart attack December 8, 2000.
Evans, Melvin H.	1979-1981	VI	At-large	Republican	Nonvoting delegate.
Gray, William H., III	1979-1991	PA	2nd	Democratic	Resigned September 11, 1991, to head the United Negro College Fund.
Leland, George T. 'Mickey'	1979-1989	TX	18th	Democratic	Died in a plane crash August 7, 1989, while investigating hunger among refugees in Ethiopia.
Stewart, Bennett McVey	1979-1981	IL	1st	Democratic
Crockett, George W., Jr.	1980-1991	MI	13th	Democratic	Elected in a special election, replacing Charles S. Diggs Jr.
Dymally, Mervyn M.	1981-1993	CA	31st	Democratic
Savage, Gus	1981-1993	IL	2nd	Democratic
Washington, Harold D.	1981-1983	IL	1st	Democratic	Resigned April 29, 1983, to become mayor of Chicago, Illinois.
Hall, Katie Beatrice	1982-1985	IN	1st	Democratic	Elected in a special election after the death of Adam Benjamin.
Hayes, Charles A.	1983-1993	IL	1st	Democratic	Elected in a special election, replacing Harold Washington.
Owens, Major R.	1983-2007	NY	11th	Democratic
Towns, Edolphus	1983-	NY	10th	Democratic
Wheat, Alan D.	1983-1995	MO	5th	Democratic
Waldon, Alton R., Jr.	1986-1987	NY	6th	Democratic	Elected in a special election after the death of Joseph Addabbo.
Espy, Albert M. 'Mike'	1987-1993	MS	2nd	Democratic	Resigned January 25, 1993, to become secretary of agriculture.
Flake, Floyd H.	1987-1997	NY	6th	Democratic	Resigned November 15, 1997, to return to his ministry.
Lewis, John R.	1987-	GA	5th	Democratic
Mfume, Kweisi	1987-1996	MD	7th	Democratic	Resigned February 16, 1996, to become president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
Payne, Donald M.	1989-	NJ	10th	Democratic
Washington, Craig A.	1989-1995	TX	18th	Democratic	Elected in a special election after the death of Mickey Leland.
Blackwell, Lucien E.	1991-1995	PA	2nd	Democratic	Elected in a special election, replacing William Gray.
Collins, Barbara-Rose	1991-1997	MI	15th	Democratic
Franks, Gary	1991-1997	CT	5th	Republican
Jefferson, William J.	1991-	LA	2nd	Democratic
Norton, Eleanor Holmes	1991-	DC	At-large	Democratic	Nonvoting delegate.
Waters, Maxine	1991-	CA	35th	Democratic
Clayton, Eva M.	1992-2003	NC	1st	Democratic	Elected in a special election after the death of Walter Jones.
Bishop, Sanford D., Jr.	1993-	GA	2nd	Democratic
Brown, Corrine	1993-	FL	3rd	Democratic
Clyburn, James E.	1993-	SC	6th	Democratic
Fields, Cleo	1993-1997	LA	4th	Democratic
Hastings, Alcee L.	1993-	FL	23rd	Democratic
Hilliard, Earl F.	1993-2003	AL	7th	Democratic
Johnson, Eddie Bernice	1993-	TX	30th	Democratic
McKinney, Cynthia A.	1993-2003, 2005-2007	GA	4th	Democratic
Meek, Carrie P.	1993-2003	FL	17th	Democratic
Reynolds, Melvin J.	1993-1995	IL	2nd	Democratic	Resigned from office, October 1, 1995.
Rush, Bobby L.	1993-	IL	1st	Democratic
Scott, Robert C.	1993-	VA	3rd	Democratic
Thompson, Bennie G.	1993-	MS	2nd	Democratic	Elected in a special election, replacing Mike Espy.
Tucker, Walter R.	1993-1995	CA	37th	Democratic	Resigned from office, December 15, 1995.
Watt, Melvin L.	1993-	NC	12th	Democratic
Wynn, Albert R.	1993-	MD	4th	Democratic
Fattah, Chaka	1995-	PA	2nd	Democratic
Frazer, Victor O.	1995-1997	VI	At-large	Democratic	Nonvoting delegate.
Jackson, Jesse L., Jr.	1995-	IL	2nd	Democratic	Elected in a special election, replacing Mel Reynolds.
Jackson-Lee, Sheila	1995-	TX	18th	Democratic
Watts, J. C., Jr.	1995-2003	OK	4th	Republican	Elected to House Republican leadership in 1999.
Cummings, Elijah	1996-	MD	7th	Democratic	Elected in a special election, replacing Kweisi Mfume.
Millender-McDonald, Juanita	1996-2007	CA	37th	Democratic	Died April 22, 2007.
Ford, Harold E., Jr.	1997-2007	TN	9th	Democratic	Succeeded his father, Harold E. Ford Sr., in district.
Kilpatrick, Carolyn Cheeks	1997-	MI	15th	Democratic
Carson, Julia	1997-2007	IN	10th	Democratic	Died December 15, 2007.
Christian-Christensen, Donna	1997-	VI	At-large	Democratic	Nonvoting delegate.
Davis, Danny K.	1997-	IL	7th	Democratic
Lee, Barbara	1998-	CA	9th	Democratic	Elected in a special election, replacing Ron Dellums.
Meeks, Gregory	1998-	NY	6th	Democratic	Elected in a special election, replacing Floyd Flake.
Jones, Stephanie Tubbs	1999-	OH	11th	Democratic
Clay, William Lacy	2001-	MO	1st	Democratic
Watson, Diane E.	2001-	CA	32nd	Democratic	Elected in a special election, replacing Julian C. Dixon.
Ballance, Frank W., Jr.	2003-2004	NC	1st	Democratic
Davis, Artur	2003-	AL	7th	Democratic
Majette, Denise L.	2003-2005	GA	4th	Democratic
Meek, Kendrick	2003-	FL	17th	Democratic
Scott, David	2003-	GA	13th	Democratic
Ellison, Keith	2007-	MN	5th	Democratic
Clarke, Yvette	2007-	NY	11th	Democratic
Johnson, Hank	2007-	GA	4th	Democratic
Richardson, Laura	2007-	CA	37th	Democratic	Elected in a special election, replacing Juanita Millender-McDonald.
Footnote: Listed district does not include all districts a member may have represented. Sources: Congressional Research Service, Black Members of the United States Congress: 1789-1997 and Black Members of the United States Congress: 1870-2004.