Black History Month: How Far Have We Come? Part 1--U.S. Congress

The other day, I had the opportunity to attend a number of hearings on Capitol Hill.  It's only after I left that I began to reflect on what I had witnessed.  It was really historic. January 2010 marks the beginning of the second session of the 111th Congress and three of the committees in the House of Representatives holding hearings that day, Homeland Security, Judiciary, and Oversight and Government Reform are led by African American men.  They are:

Representative Benny Thomspson (D-MS), Chairman of the Homeland Security Committee

Representative John Conyers (D-MI), Chairman of the Judiciary Committee

Representative Edolphus Towns (D-NY), Chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee 




That day, the committees were investigating pretty weighty issues like a December 2009 attempt to blow up an American commercial airplane en route to Detroit that was narrowly averted and the historic $180 billion bailout of the American International Group, Inc.  (For a brief summary of the AIG bailout, click here.)  The issues discussed ranged from preventing terrorist attacks to avoiding the collapse of one of America's largest financial institutions.   

Later in the week, I began to think again about the pioneers who made those moments on Capitol Hill  possible.  Hiram Rhodes Revels of Mississippi who was appointed to the United States Senate in 1870 has the honor of being the first African American to serve in the U.S. Congress.  His appointment took place after the Civil War.  The year 1870  is also important because it  is the year that the first African American was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.  South Carolina elected Joseph Hayne Rainey to serve in the Forty-First Congress.

Hiram Rhodes Revel                Joseph Hayne Rainey

Now it took almost 100 years for an African American woman to reach the Congress, but in 1968 Shirley Chisholm was elected in New York and served seven terms from 1968 to 1983.  Mrs. Chisholm also has the distinct honor of being the first woman to run for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1972.  

 Last but not least is Representative James E. Clyburn (D-SC), the House Majority Whip and the highest ranking African American in the United States House of Representative.  Mr. Clyburn began his Congressional career in 1993.

Since 1870, a total of 123 African Americans have served in the U. S. Congress.  Only six African Americans have served in the United States Senate.  Part two of this blog will profile the African Americans senators, but right now I want to laud the accomplishments of the trailblazers whose efforts the United States and the World owes a great debt of gratitude.