kids encyclopedia robot

List of African-American officeholders (1900–1959) facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

The following is a list of African-American holders of public office from 1900 to 1959. This period saw setbacks for African Americans following the Reconstruction era after "Redeemer" Democrats retook control of the South and restored white supremacy in government. African-Americans were largely barred from voting and almost entirely obstructed from public office in former Confederate states under the Jim Crow regime. The number of African American officeholders would dramatically increase following the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Notably, Minnie Buckingham Harper became the first African-American woman to serve in a state legislature when she was appointed in 1928 to serve out the remainder of her husband's term in the West Virginia House of Delegates. Crystal Bird Fauset was the first Black woman elected to a legislature when was elected to the Pennsylvania House in 1938.

Federal office

House of Representatives

State office

Alaska

House

  • Blanche McSmith (1959)

California

Assembly

Colorado

Senate

House

Connecticut

House

Delaware

House

Georgia

House

Illinois

Senate

House

Indiana

Senate

House

  • Harry H. Richardson (1932)
  • Robert L. Stanton (1932)
  • Marshall A. Talley (1932)
  • James S. Hunter (1940)
  • Jesse L. Dickinson (1942, 1944)
  • Wilbur H. Grant (1942)

Kansas

House

  • W. M. Blount (1929-1930, 1933–1936)
  • William H. Towers (1937-1939)

Kentucky

House

  • Charles W. Anderson (1936)

Maryland

Senate

House

Massachusetts

House

Michigan

Senate

House

Missouri

House

  • Walthall M. Moore (1921)
  • Edwin F. Kenswil (1943)
  • William A. Massingale (1947-1948)
  • Walter V. Lay (1949-1954)
  • James Troupe Sr. (1954)

Nebraska

Senate, then Unicameral Legislature

House (prior to 1937)

New Jersey

General Assembly

New York

Senate

State Assembly

Ohio

House

  • George W. Hayes (1901)
  • H. T. Eubanks (1904)
  • A. Lee Beaty (1919)
  • Henry Higgins (1919)
  • Harry E. Davis (1921)
  • E. W. B. Curry (1924)
  • Perry B. Jackson (1928)
  • Chester K. Gillespie (1933-1935, 1943–1945)
  • Richard P. McClain (1934)
  • David D. Turpeau (1940)
  • Sandy F. Ray (1942)
  • Jacob Ashburn Sr. (1944)

Oklahoma

House

Pennsylvania

House

  • Harry W. Bass (1911)
  • John C. Asbury (1920)
  • Andrew F. Stephens (1920)
  • William H. Fuller (1924)
  • Samuel B. Hart (1924)
  • Walter E. Tucker (1930)
  • John William Harris (1932)
  • Homer S. Brown (1934)
  • Richard A. Cooper (1934)
  • Walter K. Jackson (!934)
  • Hobson R. Reynolds (1935-1936, 1939–1940)
  • Marshall L. Shephard (1935-1938, 1941–1942)
  • William A. Allmond (1936)
  • John H. Brigerman (1937-1938, 1943–1944)
  • Samuel D. Holmes (1936)
  • Edwin F. Thompson (1936)
  • E. Washington Rhodes (1938)
  • Crystal Bird Fauset (1938)
  • Ralph T. Jefferson (1940)
  • Edward C. Young (1940)
  • Dennie W. Hoggard (1943-1946, 1949–1954)
  • Lewis W. Mintess (1943-1944, 1947–1952)
  • Thomas P. Trent (1943-1946, 1950–1951)
  • Lee P. Myhan (1945-1946)
  • J. Thompson Pettigrew (1945-1946, 1949–1956)
  • Susie Monroe (1949-1968)

Vermont

House

  • William J. Anderson (1944)

Washington

House

West Virginia

House

Wisconsin

Assembly

Local office

Illinois

Michigan

  • William T. Patrick, Detroit City Council (1957-1963)

New York

Ohio

  • Thomas W. Fleming, Member, Cleveland City Council
kids search engine
List of African-American officeholders (1900–1959) Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.