Congress, African Americans in

Source:

 Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience, Second Edition

Congress, African Americans in

Of the more than 11,000 representatives who have served in the U.S. Congress between 1789 and 2003, only 106 have been African Americans. Most of these members entered the institution in two distinct waves. The first wave began with the Forty-first Congress (1869–1871), when three black members were elected. The number of black members of Congress grew rapidly but peaked early in the Forty-fourth Congress (1875). After 1875 the presence of blacks in Congress was sporadic and dwindling. No blacks served during the Fiftieth Congress (1887–1889), three served during the Fifty-first (1889–1891), and between the Fifty-second and Fifty-sixth Congresses (1891–1889) there was only one black member per session. No blacks served in Congress between 1901 and 1929. The second wave of African American representation started in the late 1960s, and by 1970 nine blacks held Congressional seats.

First Wave of Black Representatives

Black representatives first entered Congress after the end of the American Civil War and the emancipation of the slaves. All of the newly elected representatives came from states with high black populations—the former slave states of the South. From 1870 to 1897 South Carolina (which was 59 percent black) elected eight blacks to the House. Mississippi (54 percent black) and Louisiana (50 percent black) each elected one black to the House. Mississippi also sent two blacks to the Senate. Five other states with sizable black populations—Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and Virginia—elected ten black representatives among them. However, far fewer blacks served in Congress than one might expect considering the size of the total black population in the Southern states. For instance, four former slave states—Arkansas, Tennessee, Texas, and West Virginia—never elected any black representatives during the Reconstruction era despite very sizable black populations. What was true for congressional elections was also true for politics at the state level.

Most of the twenty-four blacks in Congress served on at least one committee. Six served on the Education and Labor Committee, four served on the Agriculture Committee, and four served on the Public Expenditures Committee. Blacks were also represented on the District of Columbia, Library of Congress, Manufactures, Mining, Militia, Pensions, and War Claims committees. However, there was only one black committee chairman, Sen. Blanche Kelso Bruce, who served on the minor Levees and Dikes of the Mississippi River Committee.

Black representatives sought both to advance national policies affecting their states and districts—policies related to public education and protective tariffs for local products, for example—and to deal with more specifically black issues such as the provision of relief for depositors of the failed Freedmen's Savings and Trust Company. They also worked for the interests of Native Americans. Their successes, however, were confined to procuring easily obtained political patronage appointments such as postmaster, customs inspector, and internal revenue agent for some of their constituents. According to Eric Foner's Reconstruction, 1863–1877, black representatives achieved few legislative accomplishments: most of their bills languished in committee.

A number of events and forces brought an end to Reconstruction and black representation in Congress: the Hayes-Tilden compromise of 1877; late-nineteenth-century Supreme Court decisions that negated the effect of the Fourteenth Amendment and the Civil Rights Act of 1875; intimidation of black voters by the Ku Klux Klan; and all the other concomitants of the return to power of the former Confederates and their allies. By the turn of the century black representation seemed about to end, even at the descriptive level. Only one black member remained in Congress in 1900: George White of North Carolina, who voluntarily left Congress the following year.

Second Wave of Black Representatives

The second wave of black electoral activity in the twentieth century began in 1928 with the election of Republican (R) Oscar DePriest from an inner-city district in Chicago, Illinois. Like almost all the Reconstruction-era blacks before him, DePriest was elected from a district with a majority of black voters. After serving in the Seventy-third and Seventy-fourth Congresses (1929–1934) he was defeated in 1934 by Arthur Mitchell, the first black Democrat (D) elected to Congress. More than five decades passed before another black Republican was elected to the House. In 1942, after eight years of service, Mitchell resigned, and William Levi Dawson, another black Democrat, succeeded him. Two years later Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., was elected congressman in Harlem, New York; his election marked the first time since 1891 that there was more than one black representative in the House. Another breakthrough occurred in 1950 when Dawson gained enough seniority to become the first black to chair a standing committee, the Government Operations Committee. In 1960 Powell became chairman of the more important Education and Labor Committee. (Seven years later Powell was stripped of both his seniority and chairmanship after having been charged with an ethics violation.) Still another breakthrough came in 1966 when Edward W. Brooke III was elected as a Republican senator from Massachusetts, a state whose population was less than 3 percent black. Brooke served until his defeat in 1978.

African American women were relative latecomers to Congress. The first white woman to serve was Jeannette Rankin, elected to the House in 1916. Fifty-two years later Shirley Chisholm (D-New York) became the first black woman to serve in the House. In 1992 Carol Moseley-Braun (D-Illinois) became the first black Democrat to serve in the Senate; she was also the first black woman senator and the fourth black senator. Unlike white women who often followed their deceased husbands into office, black women did not use widowhood as a primary mode of entry into political life. All but one of the black women who served in Congress were highly educated, experienced politicians before they arrived on Capitol Hill. Rep. Shirley Chisholm had a master's degree from Columbia University and had served in the state assembly. Similarly, Rep. Barbara Charline Jordan (D-Texas) and Rep. Yvonne Braithwaite Burke (D-California), both elected in 1972, had law degrees and had previously served in their state legislatures. In 1973 Cardiss Collins (D-Illinois), elected to replace her deceased husband, became the only black woman to have entered Congress through widowhood.

Regardless of their race or gender, members of Congress are better educated and often come from higher-status jobs and backgrounds than most of their constituents. In the 105th Congress (1997–1999), for example, only two of thirty-eight black members did not have at least a four-year degree. Fifteen held law degrees and had worked in the legal field; eleven held master's degrees; and one had a Ph.D. This level of educational attainment contrasts strikingly with that of the black population in general: in 1995 only about 14 percent of blacks aged twenty-five and older had received a bachelor's degree. Thus, twentieth-century blacks in Congress were similar in one respect to black representatives in the Reconstruction era—neither group reflected the typical make-up of the African American population at large. Many twentieth-century congressional blacks had already held political office—most often in state legislatures and city councils. Others had served as teachers or professors or had been business executives. This type of disparity between representatives and their constituents, however, is not considered a major problem; few would argue that politicians should personify their “average” constituent.

Creation of a Congressional Black Caucus

In 1971 nine black representatives established the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC). After much consideration the representatives decided that their effectiveness hinged on the creation of a formal organization with its own rules, by-laws, and chair. Caucus founders viewed the organization as a vehicle that would allow individual black representatives to coordinate their efforts on behalf of downtrodden Americans, particularly African Americans. The organization adopted as its official motto the statement that “Black People have no permanent friends, no permanent enemies, just permanent interests.”

From the start the CBC challenged the distribution of power in the House. CBC members eventually won a number of key leadership positions and prestigious committee assignments. The group would also establish its own foundation for raising money, its own research group, and an important political action committee.

In 1992 the CBC's membership reached its highest level, comprising thirty-eight representatives, one delegate, and one senator. Full membership in the group has always been restricted to African Americans, but in the mid-1980s the organization voted to allow white representatives who had acceptable voting records to join as associate members.

Because of its increased size and heightened media attention, the CBC became a major political player during the first term of the Clinton administration. The group played a major role in shaping and passing some of the legislation supported by the president. CBC members headed key committees and held other leadership posts as well: nine were assistant whips, three served on the Democratic Steering and Policy Committee, and one was a deputy whip. The Clinton administration came to consult the CBC on all major political decisions. During this time the organization was more visible than it had ever been in its history and was a key factor in many of the important political debates that took place in Washington. It had become a powerful force on Capitol Hill, a development brought about largely by the personal influence of some of its individual members and by its ability to deliver a substantial bloc of votes.

Just when the organization appeared to be making a substantial difference in Congress, the Democrats lost both the House and the Senate. The 1994 elections forced the CBC to negotiate with unsympathetic members of the Republican Party, whereas the caucus had previously functioned basically as an extension of the Democratic Party. Despite the fact that its membership had quadrupled since 1971, the CBC was relegated to a marginal role as a special interest group within the minority party. Many of the highest-ranking black Democrats resigned from Congress, giving up years of seniority that took decades to attain. This move will make it difficult for black Democrats to acquire the necessary seniority to claim key chairs when control of Congress reverts to their party.

Yet black representation in Congress has not declined. The number of blacks in the House increased from eighteen in 1981 to thirty-nine in 1999. Moreover, in the 2000 election, a record number of seventy black candidates—including forty-six Democrats and twenty-four Republicans—ran for Congress. Of the twenty-nine who ran in white-majority districts (another record number of candidates), nine were elected. In all, the election sent thirty-six African American Democrats and one African American Republican, as well as two black Democratic delegates, to Congress.

Black legislators continue to work for the interests of the African American community and for issues of more general concern such as environmental protections. The CBC's strong support of environmental legislation suggests that black members of Congress will play an increasingly influential role in future policy.

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