Firsts In History: From Revels, the first African-American senator to Barack Obama, the first president

African Americans have contributed to all aspects of American life: History, science, medicine, education, law, sports and the arts. That includes leadership roles as well. Here are nine African Americans who were the first to serve their communities, states or nation in various governmental roles.

First African-American in the U.S. Senate

Source: Library of Congress

Hiram Rhodes Revels, 1870, Senate

Born a free Black man in Fayetteville, North Carolina, Revels grew up to become an Episcopal minister and a recruiter and chaplain for regiments of the U.S. Colored Troops during the Civil War. After the war, he moved to Mississippi, where the state legislature appointed him to fill a vacant seat in the U.S. Senate. There, he ran into opposition to seating him by Southern Democrats who argued the 1897 Dred Scott Supreme Court ruling meant he wasn’t a U.S. citizen. Revels served in the Senate for 13 months.

First African-American in the U.S. House

Source: Library of Congress

Joseph Ralney, 1870, House of Representatives

Born in Georgetown, South Carolina, to a slave who was allowed to buy freedom for himself and his family, Rainey lived in Philadelphia and then Bermuda but returned to South Carolina after the Civil War. He helped found the state Republican Party, was a delegate to the state constitutional convention and was appointed to fill a term as U.S. representative in February 1870. That November, he won a full term in the House and served four full terms there though March 1879.

First African-American to Serve a Full Term in the U.S. Senate

Source: Library of Congress

Blanche Kelso Bruce, 1875, U.S. Senate

Born a slave in Virginia, Bruce escaped to Kansas and later moved to Missouri, where, in 1864, he established the first school for Black children. He later moved to Mississippi, where he was appointed to oversee elections and served as a county superintendent of education. He was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1875 and served one term before reconstruction ended and he fell out of favor during a white takeover of the state Republican Party.

First African-American Cabinet Member

Source: National Archives

Robert C. Weaver, 1965, Cabinet

In 1961, John F. Kennedy had attempted to create the Department of Housing and Urban Development — and to appoint Weaver as secretary of that department — but was prevented by strong Democratic opposition. In 1965, Lyndon Johnson was successful in doing both. Weaver was a native of the District of Columbia and earned a Ph.D. in Economics from Harvard in 1934 and had advised the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration on housing and other economic issues.

First African-American Supreme Court Justice

Source: National Archives

Thurgood Marshall, 1967, Supreme Court

A native of Baltimore, Marshall was denied admission to the University of Maryland Law School in 1930 because he was Black. He attended Howard University Law School and began working with the NAACP and the Civil Liberties Union, specializing in Civil Rights cases. He successfully argued Brown v. Board of Education before the Supreme Court in 1954. He was appointed to the Supreme Court in 1967 and served as an associate justice until 1991.

First State Governor

Source: State of Virginia

Douglas Wilder, 1990, Virginia Governor

A native of Richmond, Virginia, Wilder earned a Bronze Star in the Korean War. He was elected to the Virginia Senate in 1969 and served there until he was elected lieutenant governor in 1985. He became the first African American elected as a state governor in 1990 and unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination for president in 1991. Wilder served one term — state law at the time prevented him from running for a second consecutive term. He now teaches at Virginia Commonwealth University.

First African-AMerican Secretary of State

Source: State Department

Condoleezza Rice, 2005, Secretary of State

Born in Birmingham, Alabama, Rice earned a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Denver in 1981. She taught at Stanford University and served as an advisor to the Joint Chiefs of Staff and, in 1989, was appointed director of Soviet and East European Affairs on the National Security Council. President George W. Bush appointed her as Secretary of State in 2005. She served four years before returning to Stanford as director of the school’s Global Center for Business and the Economy.

First African-American President

Source: White House

Barack Obama, 2008, U.S. President

Born in Hawaii, Obama became the first African American president of the Harvard Law Review and then taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago, where he also worked with various community organizations. He was elected to the Illinois state Senate in 1996, then to the U.S. Senate in 2004 and then was elected President in 2008. Obama served two terms and was awarded the 2009 Nobel Peace Price for international diplomacy.

First African-American Vice President

Source: U.S. Senate

Kamala Harris, 2020, Vice President

Harris’ mother came to the U.S. from India in 1958 and her father immigrated to the U.S. from Jamaica in 1961. She was born in Oakland, California and earned her law degree from the University of California. She worked as a deputy district attorney and then was elected District Attorney of San Francisco in 2002 and Attorney General of California in 2010. She was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2016 and then became vice president in 2020. She unsuccessfully ran for president last year.

Racial Makeup of the Current U.S. Congress