Conyers, John F., Jr.

Source:

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

Conyers, John F., Jr.

Sex:  Male

Born:  Detroit, Michigan, United States
16 May 1929

Activity/Profession:  U.S. Representative

1929–
Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives from Michigan since 1965.

John F. Conyers, Jr., was born in Detroit, Michigan, and earned a bachelor's degree in 1957 and a law degree in 1958 from Wayne State University. He was a member of the Michigan National Guard from 1948 to 1952. In 1952 he joined the United States Army and fought in the Korean War. He was an assistant to U.S. Representative John Dingell from 1958 to 1961, and from 1961 to 1963 he worked for the Michigan Workmen's Compensation Department. In the 1964 Democratic primary for the newly created, black-majority 14th Congressional District in Michigan, Conyers won by only 108 votes on a platform of “Equality, Jobs and Peace.” When Conyers went to Congress, he was one of only six black representatives. He was a founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus. In 2002 Conyers was elected to his nineteenth term in the House with 83 percent of the vote.

See also United States House of Representatives, African Americans in.

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