African-American Firsts: Government

John Mercer Langston

U.S. public official, diplomat, educator

Born: 12/14/1829
Birthplace: Louisa County, Va.

Langston was the son of Ralph Quarles, a white plantation owner, and Jane Langston, a black
slave. After his parents died when Langston was five, he and his brothers moved to Oberlin,
Ohio, to live with family friends. Langston enrolled in Oberlin College at age 14 and earned
bachelor's and master's degrees from the institution. Denied admission into law school, Langston
studied law under attorney Philemon Bliss and was admitted to the Ohio bar in 1854.

He became actively involved in the antislavery movement, organizing antislavery societies locally
and at the state level. He helped runaway slaves to escape to the North along the Ohio part of the
Underground Railroad. In 1855 Langston became the country's first black elected official when he
was elected town clerk of the Brownhelm Township. He was a founding member and president of
the National Equal Rights League, which fought for black voting rights. During the Civil War
Langston recruited African Americans to fight for the Union Army. After the war, he was appointed
inspector general for the Freedmen's Bureau, a federal organization that helped freed slaves

Langston moved to Washington, DC in 1868 to establish and serve as dean of Howard

University's law school — the first black law school in the country. He was appointed acting
president of the school in 1872. In 1877 Langston left to become U.S. minister to Haiti. He
returned to Virginia in 1885 and was named president of Virginia Normal and Collegiate Institute
(now Virginia State University). In 1888 he ran for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives as
an Independent. He lost to his Democratic opponent but contested the results of the election.
After an 18-month fight, he won the election and served for six months. He lost his bid for
reelection. Oklahoma's Langston University is named in his honor. Died: 11/15/1897

Stokes, Carl Burton

Stokes, Carl Burton, 1927–96, American political leader, b. Cleveland. A 1956 graduate of the
Cleveland Marshall School of Law, Stokes began his political career as a Democratic member of
the Ohio general assembly (1962–67). In 1965 he narrowly lost a race for mayor of Cleveland. In
1967 he ran again and became the first African American to be elected mayor of a major
American city. He was reelected in 1969, but after his second term he left politics to become a
news broadcaster in New York City. He returned to Cleveland in 1980 and was general counsel
to the United Automobile Workers. In 1983 Stokes was elected municipal court judge, serving
two terms as head of the court. He then served (1994–95) as ambassador to the Seychelles.

P.B.S. Pinchback

Pinckney Benton Stewart

American Reconstruction-era politician
Born: May 10, 1837
Birthplace: Macon, Georgia

Pinchback was born to a freed slave and her former master, who lived together as a couple. As a
young man he worked on steamships traveling the Mississippi, Red, and Missouri rivers, first as a
cabin boy and then as a steward. When the civil war broke out, he served as an officer in the
Union army. During Reconstruction, he entered Louisiana politics, becoming a state senator in
1868. He replaced Louisiana's lieutenant governor in 1871, after the lieutenant governor died in
office. He then went on to serve as acting governor of the state between Dec. 9, 1872 and Jan.
13, 1873, during impeachment proceedings against the elected governor, Henry Clay Warmoth.

Pinchback won election to the House of Representatives in 1872 and to the U.S. Senate in 1873.
But white southerners challenged the results and he was never permitted to assume either office.
He then focused on publishing his weekly newspaper, The Louisianian, which he oversaw from
1870 to 1881.

Joseph Rainey

First African American Congressman

Born: June 21, 1832
Birthplace: Georgetown, South Carolina.

Rainey was born a slave, but his father bought the family's freedom. During the Civil War, the
Confederacy drafted Rainey to work on the military fortifications in the Charleston, S.C., harbor.
He and his wife eventually escaped during the war to Bermuda. When he returned to Charleston
after the war, he became politically active, championing civil rights causes. In 1870, he was
elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, and was reelected four times. As a Congressman,
Rainey was dedicated to passing civil-rights legislation.

Died: Aug. 2, 1887

 Chisholm, Shirley Anita St. Hill
Chisholm, Shirley Anita St. Hill (chiz'um) [key], 1924–2005, U.S. congresswoman (1969–83), b.
Brooklyn, N.Y. An expert on early childhood education, she worked (1959–64) as a consultant to
the New York City bureau of child welfare before serving (1964–68) in the state assembly.
Elected (1968) to the U.S. House of Representatives as a Democrat, Chisholm became the first
black woman to serve in that body. She quickly gained national attention as a vocal critic of the
war in Vietnam and the House seniority system and as an outspoken advocate of the interests of
the urban poor. An active member of the Congressional Black Caucus, Chisholm made an
unsuccessful bid for the 1972 Democratic presidential nomination. In 1993 she was nominated to
be U.S. ambassador to Jamaica but withdrew because of ill health. She wrote Unbought and
Unbossed (1970) and The Good Fight (1973).

Hiram Revels

Senator from Mississippi; first African American senator

Born: September 27, 1827
Birthplace: Fayetteville, N.C.

Born a free black, Revels worked as a barber and as a minister in the African Methodist
Episcopal Church. During the Civil War he helped recruit two regiments of African American
troops in Maryland and served as the chaplain of a black regiment. After the war he moved to
Natchez, Miss., where he was elected an alderman (1868) and a Republican state senator
(1870). In 1870 Revels was elected as the first African American member of the United States
Senate. A few senators objected, arguing that Revels had not been a U.S. citizen for the nine
years, a requirement for serving in the Senate--African Americans had only technically become
citizens four years earlier, after the passage of the 1866 Civil Rights Act. But this ploy to keep him
out of the Senate failed--the Senate voted 48 to 8 in favor of Revels. Revels served as senator
from Feb. 25, 1870, to March 4, 1871. (His term was an abbreviated one because he was elected
to complete the term vacated ten years earlier by Jefferson Davis, who left the Senate to become
the president of the Confederacy.) After the Senate, Revels served as the president of a black
college and returned to the ministry.

Died: Jan. 16, 1901

Brooke, Edward William

Brooke, Edward William, 1919–, U.S. senator (1967–79), b. Washington, D.C. Admitted to the
bar in 1948, he served (1963–66) as attorney general of Massachusetts, where he gained a
reputation as a vigorous prosecutor of organized crime. Elected (1966) as a Republican to the
U.S. Senate, he became the first African-American senator since Reconstruction. Brooke served
(1967) on the President's Commission on Civil Disorders, which investigated the causes of race
riots in American cities, and played (1970) a major role in the successful fight against
confirmation of the nomination of G. Harrold Carswell to the U.S. Supreme Court. After leaving
the Senate in 1979 he headed the National Low-income Housing Coalition. He is the author of
The Challenge of Change (1966).

See his autobiography (2007).

Carol Moseley-Braun

lawyer and former U.S. senator

Born: 8/16/1947
Birthplace: Chicago, Illinois

Moseley-Braun made history in 1992 when she was elected to the U.S. Senate, becoming the
first black woman to do so. She upset two-term incumbent Alan Dixon in the Democratic primary
and went on to defeat Republican candidate Richard Williamson. As a senator, she sponsored
several progressive education bills and championed strong gun control laws. She served on the
judiciary, banking, housing and urban affairs, and small business committees. Her career suffered
when it was revealed that she used campaign money to cover personal expenses, helped to
loosen legal restrictions to facilitate the sale of two broadcasting companies, and promoted
legislation that favored a corporate donor. She lost her 1998 reelection bid. In 1999 she was
confirmed as ambassador to New Zealand.

A Chicago native and lifelong resident, Moseley-Braun graduated from the University of Illinois at
Chicago in 1969 and earned a law degree from the University of Chicago in 1972. She was an
assistant U.S. attorney from 1972 to 1978, when she was elected to the Illinois House of
Representatives. She served in the statehouse for 10 years, making education reform her priority.
From 1988 to 1992 she was Cook County recorder of deeds. In Sept. 2003, she announced her
candidacy for U.S. president but pulled out in Jan. 2004, giving her endorsement to Howard
Dean. She was married to Michael Braun from 1973 to 1986 and has one son.

Blanche Kelso, 1841–98, U.S. politician: first black to serve a full term as U.S. senator 1875–
81.

Barack Obama
U.S. President
Born: Aug. 4, 1961
Birthplace: Honolulu, Hawaii

Barack Obama was elected the 44th president of the United States on Nov. 4, 2008, prevailing
over Arizona Senator John McCain. He took the oath of office on Jan. 20, 2009, and became the
first black U.S. president.

He had previously edged out Senator Hillary Clinton in the race for the Democratic presidential
nomination in a long and often bitter primary season. Obama cast Clinton as the establishment
candidate and himself as the candidate of change. The move worked, and after his election
Obama sought to mend fences by making Clinton his Secretary of State.

Obama took office in the midst of a severe recession for the U.S. economy. His first major piece
of legislative was the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, a $787 billion spending bill, or
"stimulus package," designed to create jobs and reignite the economy.

He also acted quickly to bring about the change from the policies of the Bush administration that
he had promised during the campaign. Two days after his inauguration he signed an executive
order to close the controversial detention facility in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba within the year. Soon
to follow were executive orders that reversed Bush's policies on stem cell research and
interrogation techniques for enemy detainees.

Wins the Nobel Peace Prize

Nine months into his presidency, Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The Nobel
Committee cited him for "his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and
cooperation between peoples" and his "vision of and work for a world without nuclear weapons."
The award came as somewhat as a shock to the White House and beyond, as few of Obama's
proposed international policy changes have yet to be realized. Indeed, North Korea continues to
taunt the world with missile tests and nuclear bravado, Iran only recently agreed to engage in
talks about its nuclear program, and his Afghanistan policy is a work in progress. However,
Thorbjorn Jagland, the chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, said, "We would hope this
[the Peace Prize] will enhance what he is trying to do."

Obama was born in Hawaii in 1961 to an American mother and a Kenyan father. When he was
two, his parents, who had met as students at the University of Hawaii, divorced. Obama's
Harvard-educated father then returned to Kenya, where he worked in the economics ministry.
Obama lived in Indonesia with his mother and stepfather for part of his childhood, returning to
Hawaii to finish high school. He graduated from Columbia University, where he majored in
political science and specialized in international relations. He then attended Harvard Law School,
graduated magna cum laude, and served as the first African-American president of the Harvard
Law Review. After law school, he worked as a community organizer and a civil rights lawyer in
Chicago. He also taught at the University of Chicago Law School as a senior lecturer specializing
in constitutional law. Obama represented the South Side of Chicago in the Illinois State Senate
from 1996–2004 as a Democrat. In 2004, he was elected to the U.S. Senate, winning with 70% of
the vote against the conservative black Republican, Alan Keyes. Obama became the only
African-American serving in the U.S. Senate (and the fifth in U.S. history). Obama's idealism,
commitment to civil rights, and telegenic good looks generated enormous media attention for his
Senate campaign. The eloquence of his keynote address at the 2004 Democratic Nation
Convention in Boston, Mass., confirmed his status as one of the Democratic party's freshest and
most inspirational new leaders.

A Best-Selling Author
Obama published an autobiography, Dreams From My Father, in 1995; it became a best-seller
during his 2004 Senate campaign. His next autobiography, The Audacity of Hope, became a
bestseller after its Oct. 2006 publication, and won both the Black Caucus of the American Library
Association Literary Awards and the NAACP Image Awards in 2007. He is married to Michelle
Obama, a Chicago native who also graduated from Harvard Law School. They have two
daughters: Malia Ann and Sasha.

Weaver, Robert Clifton

Weaver, Robert Clifton, 1907–, U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (1966–68),
b. Washington, D.C. He was successively adviser to the Secretary of the Interior (1933–37),
special assistant with the Housing Authority (1937–40), and an administrative assistant with the
National Defense Advisory Commission (1940). During World War II he held several offices
concerned with mobilizing black labor. After holding various teaching assignments and working
with the John Hay Whitney Foundation, Weaver was (1955–59) New York state rent
commissioner. In 1961, President John F. Kennedy appointed him to the post of administrator of
the Housing and Home Finance Agency. In 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed him
head of the newly created Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD); he was the
first black to hold a cabinet post. After leaving HUD he was (1969–70) president of Bernard M.
Baruch College and professor of Urban Affairs at Hunter College (1970–78). His works include
Negro Labor: A National Problem (1946), The Negro Ghetto (1948), The Urban Complex:
Human Values in Urban Life (1964), and Dilemmas of Urban America (1965).

Harris, Patricia Roberts

Harris, Patricia Roberts, 1924–85, U.S. government official, b. Mattoon, Ill. A lawyer who was
active in the Democratic party, she was a law professor and dean at Howard Univ. during the
1960s and became the first African-American woman to hold a U.S. ambassadorship when she
was named (1965) by President Lyndon Johnson to the embassy in Luxembourg. As secretary
of housing and urban development (1977) under President Jimmy Carter, she was the first
African-American woman to serve in a cabinet post. From 1979 to 1981 she was secretary of
health, education, and welfare (health and human services after 1980). She ran unsuccessfully
for mayor of Washington, D.C., in 1982.

Powell, Colin Luther

Powell, Colin Luther, 1937–, U.S. army general and government official, b. New York City,
grad., City College (B.S., 1958); George Washington Univ. (M.A., 1969). The son of Jamaican
immigrants, Powell was the first African American and the youngest person to chair (1989–93)
the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the first African American to serve (2001–5) as secretary of state.
He entered the U.S. army (1958) as a commissioned officer and served two tours of duty (1962–
63, 1968–69) during the Vietnam War. In the 1970s he worked in several staff positions in the
White House, including in the Office of Management and Budget, and also served in military
command positions. In 1979 he was made a major general and the military assistant to the
deputy secretary of defense, a position he held until 1981, when he assumed command of the
4th Infantry Division. From 1983 to 1986 Powell was military assistant to the secretary of
defense, and in 1986 he served as commander of the V Corps in Western Europe. The next year
he was named assistant to the president for national security affairs.
In 1989, Powell was promoted to four-star general, becoming the first African American to hold
that rank, and was named chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He had an important role in
planning the American invasion of Panama in late 1989, and prior to the Persian Gulf War (1991)
he played a crucial role in planning and coordinating the victory of U.S. and allied forces. He
declined to run for the U.S. presidency in 1995, despite widespread encouragement to do so,
and in 1997 became chairman of America's Promise–the Alliance for Youth, a charitable
organization formed to help needy and at-risk U.S. children. Powell was appointed secretary of
state by President George W. Bush in 2001. He advocated the so-called Powell doctrine—that
U.S. military power only be used in overwhelming strength to achieve well-defined strategic
national interests—while promoting “a uniquely American internationalism,” and he also showed
a particular interest in African affairs. As secretary of state, however, his influence on foreign
policy issues was not as great as that of National Security Adviser Condoleeza Rice (who
succeeded him in 2005), Vice President Dick Cheney, and others. Powell was subsequently
publicly critical of a number of administration policies, such as the Guantánamo military prison.

See his autobiography (1995, with J. E. Persico); biography by K. DeYoung (2006); J. Mann,
Rise of the Vulcans: The History of Bush's War Cabinet (2004).
 Powell, Colin Luther
Powell, Colin Luther, 1937–, U.S. army general and government official, b. New York City,
grad., City College (B.S., 1958); George Washington Univ. (M.A., 1969). The son of Jamaican
immigrants, Powell was the first African American and the youngest person to chair (1989–93)
the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the first African American to serve (2001–5) as secretary of state.
He entered the U.S. army (1958) as a commissioned officer and served two tours of duty (1962–
63, 1968–69) during the Vietnam War. In the 1970s he worked in several staff positions in the
White House, including in the Office of Management and Budget, and also served in military
command positions. In 1979 he was made a major general and the military assistant to the
deputy secretary of defense, a position he held until 1981, when he assumed command of the
4th Infantry Division. From 1983 to 1986 Powell was military assistant to the secretary of
defense, and in 1986 he served as commander of the V Corps in Western Europe. The next year
he was named assistant to the president for national security affairs.
In 1989, Powell was promoted to four-star general, becoming the first African American to hold
that rank, and was named chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He had an important role in
planning the American invasion of Panama in late 1989, and prior to the Persian Gulf War (1991)
he played a crucial role in planning and coordinating the victory of U.S. and allied forces. He
declined to run for the U.S. presidency in 1995, despite widespread encouragement to do so,
and in 1997 became chairman of America's Promise–the Alliance for Youth, a charitable
organization formed to help needy and at-risk U.S. children. Powell was appointed secretary of
state by President George W. Bush in 2001. He advocated the so-called Powell doctrine—that
U.S. military power only be used in overwhelming strength to achieve well-defined strategic
national interests—while promoting “a uniquely American internationalism,” and he also showed
a particular interest in African affairs. As secretary of state, however, his influence on foreign
policy issues was not as great as that of National Security Adviser Condoleeza Rice (who
succeeded him in 2005), Vice President Dick Cheney, and others. Powell was subsequently
publicly critical of a number of administration policies, such as the Guantánamo military prison.

See his autobiography (1995, with J. E. Persico); biography by K. DeYoung (2006); J. Mann,
Rise of the Vulcans: The History of Bush's War Cabinet (2004).

Condoleezza Rice
Secretary of State, professor, diplomat
Born: 11/14/1954
Birthplace: Birmingham, Alabama

Rice became President George W. Bush's second Secretary of State in January 2005, despite
opposition from a small band of Democrats who objected to her role in the war in Iraq. She
became National Security Advisor to the Bush presidency in 2001. Rice received a BA in political
science from the University of Denver at age 19, followed by an MA in political science from the
University of Notre Dame in 1975, and a PhD from the Graduate School of International Studies
at the University of Denver in 1981. An expert on Russia and Eastern Europe, she began
teaching political science at Stanford University in 1981. From 1989 to 1991 she advised the
George H. W. Bush administration on foreign policy and military issues, including the unification
of Germany and the breakup of the Soviet Union. Rice later returned to Stanford, and was named
provost, the university's budget and academic official, in 1993. In 1999 she took a leave of
absence to advise the George W. Bush campaign. Author of several books on foreign policy, Rice
is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and holds honorary doctorates from
Morehouse College, the University of Alabama, and the University of Notre Dame.

After a historic and bruising 22-monthlong campaign, Sen. Barack Obama was elected the 44th
president of the United States on Nov. 4, 2008. He prevailed over Sen. John McCain in what was
probably the most pivotal U.S. election since World War II. He took the oath of office on Jan. 20,
2009, and became the first black U.S. president.
Two days into his presidency, Obama reversed some of the most controversial policies of the
Bush administration. He signed executive orders that ended the Central Intelligence Agency's
secret interrogation program, began the process to close the Guantánamo Bay detention camp,
and established a cabinet-level panel that will formulate a plan to detain and question terrorism
suspects in the future. Obama's orders said that the C.I.A. can only use the 19 interrogation
methods mentioned in the Army Field Manual. The move ended Bush's policy of allowing the CIA
to use methods that were not permitted by the military.
"We believe we can abide by a rule that says we don't torture, but we can effectively obtain the
intelligence we need," Obama said.

Campaign battle
By taking advantage of the Internet and the power of text messaging on mobile phones, Obama
ran an innovative campaign that appealed to young voters. Shunning public financing for his
election, Obama raised an unprecedented amount of money, much of it from small donors. Until
the financial crisis struck in mid-September, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan dominated the
campaign. Obama presented himself as the candidate for change and stressed that a McCain
presidency would mirror the policies of the Bush administration.
As a political newcomer, Obama faced an uphill battle in convincing voters that he would be
ready to lead the nation. Indeed, throughout the long and often bitter campaign for the
Democratic nomination, he and Sen. Hillary Clinton ran neck-and-neck in the primaries and
caucuses. Obama and Clinton competed fiercely for the support of working-class voters, and
each candidate tried to paint the other as elitist. Obama met sharp criticism for his association
with his former pastor, the combative and controversial Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Obama denounced
Wright after several of his divisive sermons popped up in the media. Wright's charged statements
prompted Obama to address the race issue, and he earned wide praise for his speech on race
relations, "A More Perfect Union."
Running as the candidate of change, Obama made hope the center of his campaign. His platform
focused on advocating for working families and poor communities, education, caring for the
environment, and ethics reform.

Formative Years
Obama was born in Hawaii to a Kenyan father and American mother. His father was raised in a
small village in Kenya where he herded goats until he earned a scholarship to study in America.
After his parents divorced, Obama's Harvard-educated father then returned to Kenya, where he
worked in the economics ministry. Obama was raised by his mother in both Hawaii and Jakarta,
Indonesia. He later moved to New York City to attend Columbia University, where he earned his
undergraduate degree.
Obama moved to Chicago after college and worked extensively in the inner city to improve living
conditions and reduce the unemployment rate in high-crime neighborhoods. He then attended
Harvard Law School, graduated magna cum laude, and served as the first African-American
president of the Harvard Law Review. After receiving his degree from Harvard Law School, he
returned to Chicago and practiced as a civil rights lawyer.

Personal Life
Obama is married to Michelle Obama, a Chicago native who also graduated from Harvard Law
School. Barack and Michelle met in Chicago, where they both worked for the law firm Sidley and
Austin. Michelle worked in corporate law for three years before pursuing a career in public
service. She has worked for the city of Chicago, and she co-founded Public Allies, which helps
young adults acquire skills to work in the public sector. In 2005 she was appointed vice president
of community and external affairs at the University of Chicago Medical Center. Barack and
Michelle have two daughters, Malia Ann and Sasha.

Political Career
His advocacy work on the local level in Chicago led to a run for the Illinois State Senate. Obama
served for four years as a state senator and used his position to create programs such as the
state Earned Income Tax Credit that provided more than $100 million in tax cuts to families over
three years. He also generated an expansion in early childhood education and worked to pass
legislation that requires all interrogations and confessions in capital cases to be videotaped.
Obama's eloquent keynote speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention earned him wide
praise him and cemented his reputation as one of the party's freshest and most inspirational new
faces. In 2004, he was elected to the U.S. Senate, winning with 70% of the vote against the
conservative black Republican, Alan Keyes. Obama became the only African-American serving in
the U.S. Senate (and the fifth in U.S. history). Obama's idealism, commitment to civil rights, and
telegenic good looks generated enormous media attention for his Senate campaign. He worked
with Republicans on issues such as weapons control and ethics reform, yet voted with other
Democrats against President Bush's surge of 20,000 troops to Iraq and in favor of a resolution
that required combat troops to be fully withdrawn by March 2008.
He served on the Senate's Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee; the Foreign
Relations Committee; the Veteran's Affairs Committee; and the Environment and Public Works
Committee.

2008 Presidential Democratic Candidate Acceptance Speech

Obama accepted the Democratic presidential nomination before some 83,000 people at Invesco
Field rather than the convention hall in Denver. His acceptance coincided with the 45th
anniversary of the March on Washington, during which Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his
pivotal "I Have a Dream" speech. In his speech, Obama attacked John McCain on several fronts,
including national security and his support for many of the policies of the Bush administration, and
outlined his plans for the economy, the environment, and health care. Calling McCain out of touch
with the economic woes of working-class America, Obama said, "It's not because John McCain
doesn't care. It's because John McCain doesn't get it."

Charles Hamilton Houston

civil-rights attorney
Born: 1895
Birthplace: Washington, D.C.

Houston, a powerful advocate of civil rights, helped gain ground for the movement by taking the
fight to the court system. Houston earned his A.B. from Amherst College at age 19 and then
began teaching English at Howard University. He joined the Army during World War I, serving in
a segregated unit of the American Expeditionary Forces. In 1919 Houston entered Harvard Law
School, where he served as the first black editor of the Harvard Law Review. He later joined the
faculty at Howard University and began preparing young black lawyers, including Thurgood
Marshall, to argue cases against discrimination. Houston himself argued a number of cases
before the Supreme Court, serving as special counsel to the National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) from 1935 to 1940.

Died: 1950

William Henry Hastie

U.S. government official; civil rights advocate

Born: November 17, 1904
Birthplace: Knoxville, Tennessee

Hastie received a BA from Amherst, where he finished first in his class, and then received a law
degree (1930) from Harvard, becoming the second African American to serve on the Harvard Law
Review. He then taught at Howard University Law School, where he worked with his friend,
Charles Hamilton Houston, and his student, Thurgood Marshall, among others, to develop legal
challenges to segregation. In private practice, as part of the law firm Houston, Houston, and
Hastie, he argued a number of civil rights cases.

In 1933, Hastie was appointed Assistant Solicitor in the Department of the Interior by President
Franklin Roosevelt, and in 1937 Roosevelt appointed him judge of the Federal District Court in
the Virgin Islands, making him the country's first African-American federal magistrate. He left that
position in 1939 to become Dean of Howard Law School. In 1941 Hastie became an aide to
Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson, and worked to reform the military's segregationist policies.
But Hastie resigned from that position in 1943 to protest the military's entrenched “reactionary
policies and discriminatory practices.” That year he was awarded the Springarn Medal “for his
distinguished career as jurist and as an uncompromising champion of equal justice.”

In 1946, Hastie became the first African-American governor of the Virgin Islands, and in 1949
President Truman appointed him judge of the Third United States Circuit Court of Appeals,
making him the first African American to be appointed as a federal circuit judge.

Died: April 14, 1976

Constance Baker Motley

lawyer and jurist

Born: 9/14/1921
Birthplace: New Haven, Conn.
As a prominent civil rights attorney, Motley won nine of the ten cases she argued before the U.S.
Supreme Court, including the 1962 case in which James Meredith won admission to the
University of Mississippi. In 1966 she became the first black woman to become a federal judge.

Motley was born to West Indian immigrants. Her father was a chef at an exclusive Yale University
fraternity. She was an outstanding student, but her parents could not afford to send her to
college. After graduating from high school, she took a position with the National Youth
Administration. Philanthropist Clarence Blakelee, impressed by Motley's intelligence and oration,
offered to finance her education. She enrolled at Fisk University and transferred to New York
University, where she earned a BA in economics in 1943. She went on to Columbia Law School,
where she met Thurgood Marshall, who hired her as a law clerk at the New York branch of the
NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. She remained with the fund after graduating in
1946. She married Joel Motley, a real estate broker, in 1949.

Motley wrote briefs for the Brown v. Board Education (1954) case. In 1964 she was elected to the
New York State Senate, the first black woman to do so, and in 1965 became the first woman
president of a Manhattan borough. Following her judicial appointment in 1966, Motley was made
chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in 1982 and senior
judge in 1986.

Died: 9/28/2005

Marshall, Thurgood
Marshall, Thurgood, 1908–93, U.S. lawyer and Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court
(1967–91), b. Baltimore. He received his law degree from Howard Univ. in 1933. In 1936 he
joined the legal staff of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. As its
chief counsel (1938–61), he argued more than 30 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court,
successfully challenging racial segregation, most notably in higher education. His presentation of
the argument against the “separate but equal” doctrine achieved its greatest impact with the
landmark decision handed down in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954). His
appointment to the U.S. Court of Appeals in 1961 was opposed by some Southern senators and
was not confirmed until 1962. President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed him to the Supreme Court
two years later; he was the first black to sit on the high court, where he consistently supported
the position taken by those challenging discrimination based on race or sex, opposed the death
penalty, and supported the rights of criminal defendants. His support for affirmative action led to
his strong dissent in Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978). As appointments by
Presidents Nixon and Reagan changed the outlook of the Court, Marshall found himself
increasingly in the minority; in retirement he was outspoken in his criticism of the court.
See biography by J. Williams (1998); studies by R. W. Bland (1973) and H. Ball (1999); R.
Kluger, Simple Justice (1976).

Thomas, Clarence
Thomas, Clarence, 1948–, associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1991–), b. Pin Point
(Savannah), Ga. Raised in a poor family, he graduated (1974) from the Yale Law School and
became a prominent black conservative active in Republican causes. He chaired the Equal
Employment Opportunity Commission (1982–90) during the Reagan and Bush administrations,
and attempted there to modify the application of federal affirmative action guidelines. In 1990 he
was appointed a judge on the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. In July, 1991,
President George H. W. Bush nominated Thomas to the Supreme Court, to replace Thurgood
Marshall. In Oct., 1991, when approval was all but assured, the Senate Judiciary Committee
reopened confirmation hearings to examine charges by Anita Hill, a Univ. of Oklahoma law
professor, that Thomas had subjected her to sexual harassment while she was an EEOC
employee in the 1980s. Testimony and debate on the charges, followed by a nationwide
television audience and revealing deep divisions among the public, did not in the end change the
committee's recommendation for approval, and Thomas was confirmed by a full Senate vote of
52 to 48. Taking his seat, he aligned himself with Antonin Scalia, forming the Court's most
conservative grouping.

See his memoir (2007).

Harris, Patricia Roberts

Harris, Patricia Roberts, 1924–85, U.S. government official, b. Mattoon, Ill. A lawyer who was
active in the Democratic party, she was a law professor and dean at Howard Univ. during the
1960s and became the first African-American woman to hold a U.S. ambassadorship when she
was named (1965) by President Lyndon Johnson to the embassy in Luxembourg. As secretary
of housing and urban development (1977) under President Jimmy Carter, she was the first
African-American woman to serve in a cabinet post. From 1979 to 1981 she was secretary of
health, education, and welfare (health and human services after 1980). She ran unsuccessfully
for mayor of Washington, D.C., in 1982.

Young, Andrew Jackson, Jr.

Young, Andrew Jackson, Jr., 1932–, African-American leader, clergyman, and public official, b.
New Orleans. He was a leading civil-rights activist in the 1960s and, as a Democrat from
Georgia, served (1973–77) in the U.S. House of Representatives. Under President Carter,
Young was permanent representative to the UN (1977–79) and was noted for his
outspokenness. He served as mayor of Atlanta (1982–90) and ran for, but failed to win, the
Democratic nomination for governor of Georgia in 1990. In 1999 he was elected to a two-year
term as head of the National Council of Churches.

Bunche, Ralph Johnson

Bunche, Ralph Johnson (bŭnch) [key], 1904–71, U.S. government official and UN diplomat, b.
Detroit, Ph.D., Harvard, 1934. He taught political science at Howard Univ. (1928–40). In
government service after 1941, he worked under the joint chiefs of staff and was a chief research
analyst in the Office of Strategic Services. The first African American to be a division head in the
Dept. of State (1945), he entered the United Nations in 1946 as director of the Trusteeship
Division. He became (Dec., 1947) principal secretary of the UN Palestine Commission and was
awarded the 1950 Nobel Peace Prize for mediating the 1948 Arab-Israeli truce. He served as UN
undersecretary general for special political affairs (1955–67) and undersecretary general from
1967 until his retirement due to poor health shortly before his death.
Born in Atlanta, Georgia, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., graduated from Morehouse College (B.A.,
1948), Crozer Theological Seminary (B.D., 1951), and Boston University (Ph.D., 1955). The son
of the pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, King was ordained in 1947 and became
(1954) minister of a Baptist church in Montgomery, Ala. He led the black boycott (1955-56) of
segregated city bus lines and in 1956 gained a major victory and prestige as a civil-rights leader
when Montgomery buses began to operate on a desegregated basis.
King organized the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), which gave him a base to
pursue further civil-rights activities, first in the South and later nationwide. His philosophy of
nonviolent resistance led to his arrest on numerous occasions in the 1950s and 60s. His
campaigns had mixed success, but the protest he led in Birmingham, Ala., in 1963 brought him
worldwide attention. He spearheaded the Aug., 1963, March on Washington, which brought
together more than 200,000 people. In 1964 he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
King's leadership in the civil-rights movement was challenged in the mid-1960s as others grew
more militant. His interests, however, widened from civil rights to include criticism of the Vietnam
War and a deeper concern over poverty. His plans for a Poor People's March to Washington
were interrupted (1968) for a trip to Memphis, Tenn., in support of striking sanitation workers. On
Apr. 4, 1968, he was shot and killed as he stood on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel (since 1991
a civil-rights museum).
James Earl Ray, a career criminal, pleaded guilty to the murder and was convicted, but he soon
recanted, claiming he was duped into his plea. Ray's conviction was subsequently upheld, but he
eventually received support from members of King's family, who believed King to have been the
victim of a conspiracy. Ray died in prison in 1998. In a jury trial in Memphis in 1999 the King
family won a wrongful-death judgment against Loyd Jowers, who claimed (1993) that he had
arranged the killing for a Mafia figure. Many experts, however, were unconvinced by the verdict,
and in 2000, after an 18-month investigation, the Justice Dept. discredited Jowers and concluded
that there was no evidence of an assassination plot.
King wrote Stride toward Freedom (1958), Why We Can't Wait (1964), and Where Do We Go
from Here: Chaos or Community? (1967). His birthday is a national holiday, celebrated on the
third Monday in January. King's wife, Coretta Scott King, has carried on various aspects of his
work. She also wrote My Life with Martin Luther King (1989).
See biographies by K. L. Smith and I. G. Zepp, Jr. (1974), S. Oates (1982), and M. Frady (2001);
C. S. King, My Life with Martin Luther King, Jr. (1969); D. J. Garrow, Bearing the Cross (1986); T.
Branch, Parting the Waters (1988) and Pillar of Fire (1997); M. E. Dyson, I May Not Get There
with You (2000).
The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright ©2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from
Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

Eugene Jacques Bullard

aviator
Born: Oct. 1894?
Birthplace: Columbus, Ga.

Born in Georgia, Bullard moved to France as a young man to escape racism. He joined the
French Foreign legion in 1914 at the start of World War I, and became known as the “Black
Swallow of Death.” Bullard then joined the French Flying Corps, where he became the first black
combat pilot on May 5, 1917. Bullard attempted to join the U.S. military after the United States
entered the war, but he was barred because of his race. He served in the French Flying Corps for
the remainder of the war, earning the French Legion of Honor, France's highest military honor,
and becoming one of France's most decorated war heroes.

Died: Oct. 12, 1961

The Question:
Who was the first African-American to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor?

The Answer:

William Carney was the first African-American recipient.

He was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his actions on July 18, 1863 at Fort
Wagner, S.C. while a member of the 54th Massachusetts Regiment in the Civil War — the state's
first all-black regiment. During the disastrous battle at Ft. Wagner, Carney noticed that the man
who carried the flag had been wounded.
So Carney bravely rescued the flag and carried it for him. He delivered it safely to his regiment
and reportedly shouted "Boys, the old flag never touched the ground." Carney was wounded
during the battle but was not killed.

After the war he spent 31 years working for the postal service. Finally, in May 1900, Carney
became the first African-American to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor. His brave deed
is depicted on the Saint-Gaudens Monument in Boston and the rescued flag is enshrined in
Memorial Hall, also in Boston.

Here is more information on Carney from the William H. Carney Elementary School and the
Congressional Medal of Honor Society.

Davis, Benjamin Oliver, 1877–1970, American general, b. Washington, D.C. After

studying (1897–98) at Howard Univ., Davis served as a lieutenant in the Spanish-
American War and in 1899 enlisted in the regular army as a private. He subsequently rose
through years of service to become (1940) the first African-American general in the U.S.
army. After the World War II he served as assistant inspector general. He retired in 1948.

Thomas L. Jennings

inventor
Born: 1791
Birthplace: New York, N.Y.

A tailor in New York City, Jennings is credited with being the first African American to hold a U.S.
patent. The patent, which was issued in 1821, was for a dry-cleaning process.

Died: 1859

Drew, Charles Richard

Drew, Charles Richard, 1904–50, African-American physician, b. Washington, D.C. A surgeon
and a professor at Howard Univ. (1935–36; 1942–50), he developed a means of preserving
blood plasma for transfusion. During World War II he headed (1940–41) the program that sent
blood to Great Britain and was (1941–42) the director of the first American Red Cross Blood
Bank.

Williams, Daniel Hale

Williams, Daniel Hale, 1858–1931, American surgeon, b. Hollidaysburg, Pa., M.D.
Northwestern Univ., 1883. As surgeon of the South Side Dispensary in Chicago (1884–91), he
became keenly aware of the lack of facilities for training African Americans like himself as
doctors and nurses. As a result he organized the Provident Hospital, the first black hospital in the
United States. In 1893, Williams performed the first successful closure of a wound of the heart
and pericardium. In the same year President Cleveland appointed him surgeon in chief of
Freedmen's Hospital, Washington, D.C., and during his five-year tenure there he reorganized the
hospital and provided a training school for African American nurses. From 1899 until his death
he was professor of clinical surgery at Meharry Medical College, Nashville, Tenn.

Mae C. Jemison

physician, astronaut
Born: 10/17/1956
Birthplace: Decatur, Ala.

Astronaut Mae Jemison became the first African-American woman to enter space when she
served on the crew of the Space Shuttle Endeavor in September 1992. Jemison's life, however, is
also full of terrestrial accomplishments. A high school graduate at the age of 16, she attended
Stanford University on a scholarship, graduating with a B.S. degree in chemical engineering and
having fulfilled the requirements for an A.B. in African and Afro-American Studies. After
graduating from medical school (Cornell University, 1981), Jemison joined the Peace Corps,
serving as its area medical officer from 1983 to 1985 in the West African countries of Sierra
Leone and Liberia. After serving in NASA from 1987 to 1993, Jemison founded The Jemison
Group, Inc., which developed ALAFIYA, a satellite-based telecommunications systems intended
to improve health care delivery in developing nations. She also was a professor in the
Environmental Studies Program at Dartmouth College, where she directed the Jemison Institute
for Advancing Technology in Developing Countries.