List of African-American officeholders (1900–1959) explained

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

• Oscar Stanton De Priest (1929-1953)
• Arthur Wergs Mitchell (1935-1943)
• William L. Dawson (1943-1970)
• Adam Clayton Powell Jr. (1945-1971)
• Charles Diggs (1955-1980)
• Robert N. C. Nix Sr. (1958-1979)

State office

Alaska

House

• Blanche McSmith (1959)

California

Assembly

• Frederick Madison Roberts (1918)
• Augustus Hawkins (1934-1960)

Colorado

Senate

• George L. Brown (1957)

House

• George L. Brown (1955)

Connecticut

House

• Wilfred X. Johnson (1958), the Wilfred X. Johnson House where he lived is listed on the National Register of Historic Places

Delaware

House

• William J. Winchester (1948)

Georgia

House

• H. F. McKay, state representative from Liberty County (1900-1901) ^[1]
• Lectured Crawford, state representative from McIntosh County (1886-1887, 1890–1891, 1900–1901)
• W. H. Rogers, state representative from McIntosh County (1902-1908)
• Amos Rogers
• Hercules Wilson^{[2] [3]}
• Anthony Wilson, state representative from Camden County, Georgia (1884-1888?)^[3]
• Frasier, first name unknown, state representative from Liberty County, Georgia^[3]
• Samuel A. McIvor, state representative for Liberty County, Georgia^[4]

Illinois

Senate

• Adelbert H. Roberts (1924)
• William E. King (1934)
• William A. Wallace (1938)
• Christopher C. Wimbish (1942)
• Fred J. Smith (1954)

House

• John G. Jones (1900)
• Edward D. Green (1904)
• Alexander Lane (1907)
• Robert R. Jackson (1912)
• Sheadrick B. Turner (1914)
• Benjamin H. Lucas (1916)
• Warren B. Douglass (1918)
• George T. Kersey (1922)
• Charles A. Griffin (1924)
• William J. Warfield (1928)
• Charles J. Jenkins (1930)
• Harris B. Gaines (1930)
• Aubrey H. Smith (1934)
• Ernest A. Greene (1936)
• Richard A. Harewood (1936)
• Andrew A. Torrence (1938)
• Dudley S. Martin (1940)
• Corneal A. Davis (1943)
• Christopher C. Wimbish (1943)
• Charles T. Sykes (1944)
• Edward A. Welters (1944)
• Kenneth E. Wilson (1954)
• William H. Robinson (1954)
• J. Horace Gardner (1956)
• Elwood Graham (1956)
• Floy Clements (1958)
• Cecil A. Partee (1957)
• Charles F. Armstrong (1957)

Indiana

Senate

• Robert Brokenburr (1940)

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

• Harry A. Cole (1955-1966)

House

• Emory Cole (1955)
• Truly Hatchett (1955)
• Verda Welcome (1958)
• Irma George Dixon (1958)

Massachusetts

House

• William H. Lewis (1902)

Michigan

Senate

• Charles A. Roxborough (1930)
• Charles Diggs Sr. (1937-1944)
• Cora Brown (1952)

House

• James W. Ames (1901)
• Horace A. White (1941)
• Charline White (1950)

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

• John Adams Jr. (1937)

House (prior to 1937)

• T. L. Barnett (1924)
• A. A. McMillan (1924)
• John Andrew Singleton (1927)
• Johnny Owen (1933)
• John Adams Jr. (1935)

New Jersey

General Assembly

• Walter G. Alexander (1920)
• Oliver Randolph (1922)
• James L. Baxter (1927)
• Frank S. Hargrave (1930-1931, 1933–1935, 1937-?, 1938–1942)
• J. Mercer Burrell (1933-1937)
• Guy R. Moorehead (1937-)
• James Otto Hill (1943-1947)
• Madaline A. Williams (1957)

New York

Senate

• Julius A. Archibald (1953)

State Assembly

• Edward A. Johnson (1917)
• John C. Hawkins (1919)
• Henri W. Shields (1922)
• Pope B. Billups (1925)
• Lamar Perkins (1930)
• Francis E. Rivers (1930)
• James E. Stevens (1930)
• William T. Andrews (1934)
• Robert W. Justice (1935)
• Daniel Burrows (1938)
• Hulan E. Jack (1940)
• William E. Prince (1944)
• Bessie A. Buchanan (1955)

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)^{[5] [6]}
• 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

• A. C. Hamlin (1908)

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

• John H. Ryan (1933)
• Charles Stokes

West Virginia

House

• James M. Ellis (1902)
• Howard Railey (1904)
• Ebenezer Howard Harper (1917)
• Harry J. Capehart (1919–1925)
• Minnie Buckingham Harper (1928, appointed)

Wisconsin

Assembly

• Lucian H. Palmer (1906)
• Cleveland Moland Colbert (1942), elected but decertified after recount^[7]
• Leroy J. Simmons (1944)

Local office

Illinois

• Oscar Stanton De Priest, Cook County Board of Commissioners (1904–1908), Chicago City Council (1915–1917, 1943–1947)
• Louis B. Anderson, Chicago City Council (1923-1933)
• William L. Dawson, Chicago City Council (1933-1939)
• Earl B. Dickerson, Chicago City Council (1939-1943)
• Claude Holman, Chicago City Council (1955-1973)

Michigan

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

New York

• Adam Clayton Powell Jr., New York City Council (1942-1945)
• Benjamin J. Davis Jr., New York City Council (1945-1949)

Ohio

• Thomas W. Fleming, Member, Cleveland City Council

Notes and References

1. https://gahistoricnewspapers.galileo.usg.edu/lccn/sn89053488/1900-10-25/ed-1/seq-4/#date1=01%2F01%2F1885&nottext=&date2=12%2F31%2F1902&words=Crawford+Lectured&searchType=advanced&sequence=0&index=5&proxdistance=2&sort=date_asc&rows=12&ortext=&proxtext=%22lectured+crawford%22&amp=&amp=&amp=&amp=&amp=&amp=&amp=&andtext=&page=4
2. Book: Legare, John Girardeau. The Darien Journal of John Girardeau Legare, Ricegrower. July 1, 2012. University of Georgia Press. 9780820343105 . Google Books.
3. News: Georgia's Negro Legislators . 19 July 2022 . Savannah Morning News . 3 October 1885 . 5.
4. Web site: Cook Bell . Karen . Black Politics in Lowcountry Georgia after the Civil War Starting Points . Starting Points . Arizona State University . 19 July 2022 . 24 September 2018.
5. News: Meyer . Mary . 1993-02-19 . Researcher tracking down story of Delaware's first black teacher . 1 . The Delaware Gazette . 2023-09-21.
6. Book: Middleton, Evan P. . History of Champaign County, Ohio: Its People, Industries and Institutions . 1917 . B.F. Bowen . 579–581 . en.
7. Web site: January 14, 1943 . Fight Over Assembly Seat . subscription . 2022-11-01 . Newspapers.com . . 10 . en . 0749-4068.