List of African-American United States senators facts for kids

Barack Obama was the first African American U.S. senator to be elected president of the United States.

Kamala Harris was the first African American U.S. senator to be elected vice president of the United States.

This article lists the African Americans who have served in the United States Senate. The Senate is an important part of the U.S. government. So far, 12 African Americans have been elected or appointed to this role. Two served in the 1800s, and two in the 1900s.

Three of these 12 senators held a specific type of Senate seat for Illinois. One of them was Barack Obama, who later became President of the United States. This means Illinois has had the most African American U.S. senators.

In 2016, Kamala Harris made history. She became the first African American to be elected a U.S. senator from California. Later, she became the first African American Vice President of the United States. This also made her the first African American to lead the U.S. Senate meetings.

Out of the 12 African American senators, seven were chosen by popular vote. This means people voted directly for them. Two were chosen by their state's lawmakers before 1913. That's when a new rule, the Seventeenth Amendment, made it so people would vote directly for senators. Three senators were chosen by a state governor to fill a spot, but they were not later elected by voters.

Understanding the U.S. Senate

The United States Senate is like the "upper house" of the United States Congress. Think of Congress as the main law-making group for the U.S. government. It has two parts: the Senate and the House of Representatives.

The term "African Americans" usually means people in the United States who have family roots in Africa. This often refers to people whose ancestors came from parts of Africa south of the Sahara Desert.

When the U.S. government first started, African Americans were not treated as full citizens. Many were forced into slavery. No African American held a federal elected job until 1870. This was after the Fifteenth Amendment was added to the United States Constitution. This amendment made it illegal for governments to stop any citizen from voting because of their race or color.

A Look Back: Early Senators to Obama

Hiram Rhodes Revels (left) was the first African American to serve in the U.S. Senate. Carol Moseley Braun was the first African American woman elected to the Senate.

The first two African American senators were from Mississippi. They served after the American Civil War, during a time called the Reconstruction era. Hiram Rhodes Revels was the very first African American to serve in the Senate. He was chosen in 1870 by Mississippi's state lawmakers. Some senators tried to stop him from taking his seat. They used an old court case from 1857 that said Black people were not citizens. But most senators voted for Revels to be seated.

In 1872, P. B. S. Pinchback was chosen by Louisiana's state lawmakers for the Senate. However, there were problems with the elections in Louisiana. Because of this, Pinchback was never allowed to take his seat in Congress.

Mississippi's lawmakers chose Blanche Bruce in 1875. He was the first African American to serve a full six-year term. He was also the only senator who had been enslaved. But in 1876, Republicans lost power in Mississippi. Bruce was not chosen for a second term. By 1890, Mississippi and other Southern states passed new laws. These laws took away the voting rights of most Black citizens. This unfair situation continued until the 1960s. That's when new federal laws, like the Voting Rights Act of 1965, helped protect voting rights.

The next Black U.S. senator, Edward Brooke from Massachusetts, started his term in 1967. He was the first African American to be chosen by popular vote. This happened after the 1913 rule change (the Seventeenth Amendment) that made people vote directly for senators. Brooke was a Republican. He was also the first Black senator to serve two terms, staying in office until 1979. After he left, there were no Black members in the U.S. Senate for 14 years.

Between 1993 and 2010, three Black members of the Democratic Party from Illinois held the same Senate seat at different times. Carol Moseley Braun joined the Senate in 1993. She was the first African American woman to serve in the Senate. She served one term. Barack Obama became a senator in 2005. In 2008, he became the first African American to be elected president of the United States. When Obama became president, he left his Senate seat. Roland Burris, also an African American, was chosen to finish Obama's term. Burris did not run for election after his appointment. From 2011 to 2013, there were no Black senators again.

Modern Day Senators: 2013–Present

After Obama became president, the next two Black senators were Tim Scott from South Carolina and Mo Cowan from Massachusetts. Both were chosen by their state governors to fill empty spots. This meant that 2013 was the first time in history that more than one African American served in the Senate at the same time.

On October 16, 2013, people in New Jersey elected Cory Booker in a special election. He filled the seat of a senator who had passed away. When Booker took office, he was the first African American senator elected since Obama. He was also the first to represent New Jersey. He was later elected for a full six-year term in 2014. Tim Scott also kept his seat in a special election in 2014 and won a full term in 2016.

In 2017, Scott and Booker were joined by Kamala Harris from California. Harris was the second African American woman to serve in the Senate. In 2020, she was elected as the first female Vice President of the United States. In 2021, Raphael Warnock from Georgia was elected. He was the first African American Democrat to represent a former Confederate state in the Senate.

As of January 20, 2021, there have been 1,994 members of the United States Senate. Out of all those members, 11 have been African American.

List of African American U.S. Senators

Image	Senator	State	Time in Office			Party		Congress	Notes
			Start	End	How Long
	Hiram Rhodes Revels (1827–1901)	Mississippi	February 25, 1870	March 3, 1871	1 year, 7 days		Republican	41st (1869–1871)	Elected to finish a term after Mississippi rejoined the U.S. First African American to serve in the United States Senate and Congress. He retired.
	Blanche Bruce (1841–1898)	Mississippi	March 4, 1875	March 4, 1881	6 years, 0 days		Republican	44th (1875–1877)	First African American to serve a full six-year term as a United States senator. He was the only senator who had been enslaved. He retired.
								45th (1877–1879)
								46th (1879–1881)
	Edward Brooke (1919–2015)	Massachusetts	January 3, 1967	January 3, 1979	12 years, 0 days		Republican	90th (1967–1969)	First African American elected to the Senate by direct election (people voted for him). He lost his reelection.
								91st (1969–1971)
								92nd (1971–1973)
								93rd (1973–1975)
								94th (1975–1977)
								95th (1977–1979)
	Carol Moseley Braun (born 1947)	Illinois	January 3, 1993	January 3, 1999	6 years, 0 days		Democratic	103rd (1993–1995)	First African American woman and African American Democrat to serve in the United States Senate. She lost her reelection.
								104th (1995–1997)
								105th (1997–1999)
	Barack Obama (born 1961)	Illinois	January 3, 2005	November 16, 2008	3 years, 318 days		Democratic	109th (2005–2007)	First African American senator to be elected President of the United States. He resigned after being elected president.
								110th (2007–2009)
	Roland Burris (born 1937)	Illinois	January 15, 2009	November 29, 2010	1 year, 318 days		Democratic	111th (2009–2011)	Chosen by the Illinois Governor to fill the spot after Barack Obama became president. He was the first African American to take over from another African American in the Senate. He did not run for election after his appointment.
	Tim Scott (born 1965)	South Carolina	January 2, 2013	Incumbent	12 years, 201 days		Republican	112th (2011–2013)	Chosen by the South Carolina Governor to fill a spot. First African American to serve in the Senate from South Carolina. He was also the first African American to serve in both parts of the United States Congress.
								113th (2013–2015)
								114th (2015–2017)
								115th (2017–2019)
								116th (2019–2021)
								117th (2021–2023)
								118th (2023–present)
	Mo Cowan (born 1969)	Massachusetts	February 1, 2013	July 16, 2013	165 days		Democratic	113th (2013–2015)	Chosen by the Massachusetts Governor to fill a spot. He did not run for election after his appointment. He was the first African American senator chosen by an African American governor. He was also the first African American to serve at the same time as another African American senator (Tim Scott). He retired.
	Cory Booker (born 1969)	New Jersey	October 31, 2013	Incumbent	11 years, 264 days		Democratic	113th (2013–2015)	First African American to serve in the Senate from New Jersey. He was the first African American to be elected to the Senate in a special election.
								114th (2015–2017)
								115th (2017–2019)
								116th (2019–2021)
								117th (2021–2023)
								118th (2023–present)
	Kamala Harris (born 1964)	California	January 3, 2017	January 18, 2021	4 years, 15 days		Democratic	115th (2017–2019)	First African American to serve in the Senate from California. First African American senator to be elected as Vice President. She resigned after being elected Vice President.
								116th (2019–2021)
								117th (2021–2023)
	Raphael Warnock (born 1969)	Georgia	January 20, 2021	Incumbent	4 years, 183 days		Democratic	117th (2021–2023)	First African American to serve in the Senate from Georgia.
								118th (2023–present)
	Laphonza Butler (born 1979)	California	October 3, 2023	Incumbent	1 year, 292 days		Democratic	118th (2023–present)	Chosen by Governor Gavin Newsom to fill the spot after Senator Dianne Feinstein passed away. She is the first openly LGBT African American Senator.

African Americans Elected to the Senate But Not Seated

Sometimes, a person is elected but doesn't get to serve. Here is one example:

Image	Senator-elect	State	Year Elected	Party		Congress	Notes
	P. B. S. Pinchback (1837–1921)	Louisiana	1873		Republican	44th (1875–1877)	He was not allowed to take his seat because of a disputed election.

States Represented by African American Senators

Seven states have had Black senators. As of October 2023, four states currently have Black senators.

How Many African American Senators Over Time?

This chart shows how many African Americans served in the U.S. Senate during different periods.

Elections with Two Major African American Candidates

Here are some elections where both main candidates were African American.

See Also

Federal Government

• African Americans in the United States Congress
  • List of African-American United States representatives
  • Congressional Black Caucus
• List of African-American United States Cabinet members
• List of African American firsts

State and Local Government

• List of African-American U.S. state firsts
• List of first African-American mayors