List of African-American U.S. state firsts

African Americans are a demographic minority in the United States. African-Americans' initial achievements in various fields historically establish a foothold, providing a precedent for more widespread cultural change. The shorthand phrase for this is "breaking the color barrier."^[1]^[2]

In addition to major national- and international-level firsts, African-Americans have achieved firsts on a statewide basis.

19th century

1832

First governor of African descent in what is now the US: Pío Pico, an Afro-Mexican, was the last governor of Alta California before it was ceded to the US. Like all Californios, Pico automatically became a US citizen in 1848. He was elected to the Los Angeles Common Council in 1853, but he did not assume office.^{[citation needed]}

1859

First African American on the staff at Harvard University: Aaron Molyneaux Hewlett^[3]

1868

First elected African-American lieutenant governor: Oscar Dunn, Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana

First 33 African-American legislators in Georgia: see Original 33

First African American admitted to the University of Michigan Law School: Gabriel Franklin Hargo^[4]

First African American to serve in the Alabama Senate: Benjamin F. Royal^[5]

1869

First African-American woman to earn a medical degree in New York State: Susan McKinney Steward

1870

First African-American senator from Mississippi: Hiram R. Revels (also first in U.S.)

First African American to graduate from the University of Michigan Law School: Gabriel Franklin Hargo^[6]

1871

First African-American acting governor: Oscar James Dunn of Louisiana from May until August 9, 1871, when sitting Governor Warmoth was incapacitated and chose to recuperate in Mississippi. (see also: Douglas Wilder, 1990)

1872

Second African-American acting governor of Louisiana: P. B. S. Pinchback (Also second in U.S.) (non-elected; see also Douglas Wilder, 1990) (Also first elected senator but was denied seat)^[7]^[8]

1873

First African-American Speaker of the Mississippi House of Representatives, and of any state legislature: John R. Lynch

First African American elected to the Tennessee General Assembly: Sampson W. Keeble

First African-American professor of the University of South Carolina (USC): Richard Theodore Greener^[9]

1875

First African-American elected member of the American Philological Association (APA): Richard Theodore Greener^[10]

First African American to attend and graduate from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in the early 1870s: Lottie Wilson Jackson^[11]^[12]

1876

First African American elected to the Illinois General Assembly: John W. E. Thomas

First African-American woman to be admitted to the University of Michigan: Mary Henrietta Graham^[13]

1877

First African American to graduate from Boston University School of Law: Emanuel Molyneaux Hewlett^[14]

1878

First African American elected mayor in New York State (village president of Cleveland): Ned Sherman

1879

First African American elected to the Wyoming Legislature: William Jefferson Hardin

First African American elected to the Ohio General Assembly: George Washington Williams

1880

First African American elected to the Indiana General Assembly: James Sidney Hinton^[15]^[16]

First African American to graduate from the University of Michigan: Mary Henrietta Graham^[17]

1883

Founded the first school for black children in Augusta, Georgia and was principal for 50 years for the Haines Institute for Industrial and Normal Education: Lucy Craft Laney^[18]

1884

First African American woman to practice medicine in Ohio: Consuelo Clark-Stewart^[19]

1885

First African American elected to the Rhode Island General Assembly: Mahlon Van Horne

First African-American woman to graduate from the University of Michigan Medical School and the first faculty member of Spelman College where she established its nurse training program: Sophia B. Jones^[20]^[21]

1887

First documented African-American woman to graduate from an Indiana college or university when she received a bachelor's degree from Butler University: Gertrude Amelia Mahorney^[22]

First African American to receive the Ph.D. degree from Boston University: John W. E. Bowen Sr.^[23]

1888

First African-American woman to become a licensed doctor in the U.S. state of Massachusetts: Juan Bennett Drummond

First African American to earn a law degree at the University of Pennsylvania Law School: Aaron Albert Mossell^[24]

1889

First African-American female principal in Massachusetts and the Northeast: Maria Louise Baldwin, supervising white faculty and a predominantly white student body at the Agassiz Grammar School in Cambridge (renamed the Maria L. Baldwin School in 2004).^[25]^[26]

1890

First African American chosen to deliver a Harvard University senior class oration: Clement G. Morgan^[27]

1891

First woman to be licensed as a physician in the U.S. state of Alabama: Halle Tanner Dillon Johnson^[28]

1892

First African American to receive a graduate degree at the University of Cincinnati in Cincinnati, Ohio: Charles Henry Turner^[29]

1893

First African-American member elected to the Michigan House of Representatives: William Webb Ferguson

First African-American woman to become a licensed surgeon and physician in Tennessee: Georgia E. L. Patton Washington

First African American and the first woman to pass the Virginia Medical Examining Board's examination:Sarah Garland Boyd Jones^[30]^[31]

1894

First African-American woman licensed to practice law in Illinois, and the third in the United States: Ida Platt

1897

First African-American woman licensed to practice medicine in the U.S. state of Georgia: Eliza Ann Grier^[32]

First African-American woman licensed to practice medicine in South Carolina: Matilda Evans^[33]

First African-American woman physician in Indianapolis: Beulah Wright Porter^[34]

1898

First African-American member elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives: John Francis Wheaton^[35]

First woman to teach law in a chartered law school when she joined the faculty of her alma mater, Central Tennessee College of Law: Lutie Lytle^[36]

First African-American woman to graduate from medical school and to practice medicine in Louisiana: Emma Wakefield-Paillet^[37]

20th century

1900

First African American columnist to regularly write for a white newspaper in Indiana: Lillian Thomas Fox^[38]

1906

First African-American elected to the Wisconsin Legislature: Lucian H. Palmer^[39]^[40]

1914

Founded the first hospital in the city of Evanston, Illinois that would serve African-American patients: Isabella Garnett and her husband Dr. Arthur Butler^[41]

1915

First African American and first woman to graduate from the University of Hawaiʻi (master’s degree in chemistry): Alice Ball^[42]

Possibly the first African American to graduate from Suffolk Law School: Thomas Vreeland Jones (Father of Lois Mailou Jones)^[43]

1916

First African-American woman to practice dentistry in Cambridge, Massachusetts: Edna C. Robinson Brown^[44]

First African-American woman to graduate from the School of Pharmacy at University of Pittsburgh, and the first African-American woman licensed to practice pharmacology in the state of Pennsylvania: Ella P. Stewart^[45]

First African Americans to graduate from Ohio State University College of Medicine: Clarence Alphonso Lindsay, Rudolph Finley and Charles Robert Lewis^[46]

1917

First African American to enter the University of Oregon: Mabel Byrd^[47]

1918

First African-American elected to political office in California: Frederick Madison Roberts, California State Assembly^[48]

First African-American student at Hamline University in Minnesota: Anna Arnold Hedgeman

First African-American woman to run for legislative office in the state of Washington: Alice S. Presto^[49]

1919

First African-American woman to be appointed a police officer at the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD): Georgia Ann Robinson^[50]

1920

First African-American elected to the Missouri legislature: Walthall Moore^[51]^[52]

First African-American librarian hired by the New York Public Library (NYPL): Catherine Allen Latimer

First African-American woman to graduate from the Tufts University School of Dental Medicine, and the only woman in her graduating class: Jessie G. Garnett^[53]

1922

First African American to graduate from Hamline University in Minnesota: Anna Arnold Hedgeman

First African-American woman to work for the Louisville Metro Police Department: Bertha Whedbee^[54]

1924

First African-American elected to the Illinois Senate: Adelbert Roberts

1926

First African-American woman to graduate from Bellevue Hospital Medical College, now NYU Grossman School of Medicine: May Edward Chinn

1927

First African-American woman to receive a law degree from the University of Pennsylvania Law School: Sadie T. M. Alexander

First African-American graduate of Western Michigan Teachers College: Merze Tate^[55]

1928

First African-American woman legislator in the United States when she was appointed to the West Virginia House of Delegates: Minnie Buckingham Harper

1930

First African Americans elected as judges in the state of New York: James S. Watson and Charles E. Toney^[56]

First African-American woman to graduate from the University of Cincinnati Law School: Helen Elsie Austin

First woman president of Tillotson College (now Huston–Tillotson University), a HBCU in Austin, Texas and the first woman to head an accredited college in Texas: Mary Elizabeth Branch^[57]^[58]

1931

First African-American woman licensed as a pharmacist in the state of Iowa: Gwendolyn Wilson Fowler

1932

First African-American woman to receive a law degree from Fordham University in New York City: Eunice Carter^[59]

1933

First African American to perform with the all-white Chicago Symphony Orchestra: Margaret Bonds

1935

First African-American woman to work as a prosecutor in the New York County (Manhattan) District Attorney’s Office: Eunice Carter^[60]

First African-American woman to earn a degree at the University of Oxford (bachelor of literature degree (B.Litt.) in international relations): Merze Tate^[61]

1937

First African American and first woman appointed as an assistant attorney general in Ohio: Helen Elsie Austin^[62]

First African-American woman to graduate from Grinnell College, in Grinnell, Iowa: Edith Renfrow Smith^[63]

First African American hired as a policeman by the Baltimore Police Department: Violet Hill Whyte^[64]

1938

First African-American woman to be elected to the Pennsylvania General Assembly and to any state legislature: Crystal Bird Fauset

First African-American woman from the state of Florida to graduate from an accredited law school (Howard University Law School): Blanche Armwood

1939

First African-American woman to own a cosmetology school in Iowa: Pauline Brown Humphrey^[65]

First African American to serve on the Los Angeles Board of Education: Fay Allen^[66]

1941

First African-American woman to earn a Ph.D. in government and international relations from Harvard University (then Radcliffe College): Merze Tate^[67]

1943

Baltimore Police Department African-American officers were allowed to wear police uniforms.^[68]

First African American to earn a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley: Lloyd Noel Ferguson^[69]

1944

First African-American woman to graduate from the University of Michigan Law School and pass the bar exam: Jane Cleo Marshall Lucas^[70]

First African-American librarian to work at the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh: Vivian Davidson Hewitt^[71]^[72]

1945

First African-American woman to graduate from Columbia Law School in New York City: Elreta Alexander-Ralston^[73]

1946

First African American to graduate from a nursing program in Colorado (University of Colorado School of Nursing): Zipporah Parks Hammond^[74]

First African-American woman to pass the Maryland bar exam and be admitted to practice law in Maryland: Jane Cleo Marshall Lucas^[75]

First African-American physician to work at the Newark City Hospital, Newark, New Jersey: Ernest Mae McCarroll^[76]

1947

First African-American woman to graduate in medicine from Ohio State University: Clotilde Dent Bowen

First African-American woman licensed to practice law in North Carolina: Elreta Alexander-Ralston^[77]

1948

First African American elected to the Delaware House of Representatives: William J. Winchester

First African-American female attorney admitted to the Alabama State Bar: Mahala Ashley Dickerson

First African Americans hired by the Atlanta Police Department: Henry Hooks, Claude Dixon, Ernest H. Lyons, Robert McKibbens, Willard Strickland, Willie T. Elkins, Johnnie P. Jones, and John Sanders^[78]

First African Americans admitted to the Georgetown University Law Center: Winston A. Douglas, Elmer W. Henderson, William D. Martin and Lutrelle F. Parker^[79]

1949

First African American admitted to the University of Oklahoma College of Law: Ada Lois Sipuel Fisher

First African American to be appointed president of the Commission of the Detroit Department of Public Welfare: Rosa Slade Gragg^[80]

1950

First African-American woman to be elected to the West Virginia Legislature: Elizabeth Simpson Drewry

First African-American woman to be elected to the Michigan Legislature: Charline White

First African-American woman to graduate from the University of Maryland School of Law and to practice law in the state of Maryland: Juanita Jackson Mitchell^[81]

1951

Second African-American woman admitted to the Indiana bar: Mahala Ashley Dickerson

1952

First African American to graduate from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences: Edith Irby Jones^[82]

First African-American woman elected (rather than appointed) to the Michigan state senate: Cora Brown

1953

First African-American woman physician on the faculty of the University of Louisville School of Medicine: Grace Marilynn James

First African-Americans to earn degrees at the University of Virginia : Louise Stokes Hunter and Walter N. Ridley^[83]

1954

First African-American woman to hold a cabinet position in New York City: Anna Arnold Hedgeman

First African-American woman to become a licensed architect in the state of New York: Norma Merrick Sklarek

First African American to receive a law degree from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge: Ernest Nathan Morial

1955

First African-American woman elected to the New York State Legislature: Bessie A. Buchanan

First African-American elected to the Maryland State Senate: Harry A. Cole

First woman and the first African-American member of the Common Council in Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Vel Phillips

First African-American artist to have a solo exhibition at the Delgado Museum (now the New Orleans Museum of Art): Clementine Hunter^[84]

First African-American woman to argue a case before the North Carolina Supreme Court: Elreta Alexander-Ralston^[85]

First African-American woman to earn a Ph.D. in mathematics education (University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania): Angie Turner King^[86]

1956

First African-American student to attend the University of Alabama: Autherine Lucy^[87] Her expulsion from the institution later that year led to the university's President Oliver Carmichael's resignation.^[88]^[89]

First African American to teach at college or university level in California: Betty Smith Williams.^[90]^[91]

First African-American woman to obtain a Master of Laws degree from Georgetown University Law Center: Mabel Dole Haden^[92]

1957

First African-American woman elected to the New Jersey Legislature: Madaline A. Williams

1958

First African-American women elected to the Maryland General Assembly: Verda F. Welcome and Irma George Dixon

First African-American woman elected to the Illinois General Assembly: Floy Clements

First African American to graduate from the University of Maryland: Elaine J. Coates^[93]

First African-American to graduate from the University of Kentucky: Doris Y. Wilkinson

First African-American woman to earn a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering at the University of Michigan: Willie Hobbs Moore^[94]

First African-American woman to achieve a master's degree from the University of Minnesota in organic chemistry: Jeannette Brown^[95]

1959

First African American to graduate from the University of Maryland: Elaine J. Coates^[96]

First African-American attorney in the state of Alaska: Mahala Ashley Dickerson

First African-American woman to serve as a judge in Pennsylvania: Juanita Kidd Stout

First African-American woman attorney to practice law in the state of Kentucky: Alberta Odell Jones

1960

First African-American woman to earn a doctorate in any subject at the University of Texas at Austin (mathematics education): Lillian K. Bradley^[97]

1961

First African-American students to attend the University of Georgia: Charlayne Hunter and Hamilton Holmes^[98]

First African-American woman to graduate from the University of Pittsburgh's School of Engineering: Elayne Arrington^[99]^[100]

First African-American woman to earn a Master of Science in electrical engineering at the University of Michigan: Willie Hobbs Moore^[101]

1962

First African-American attorney general of Massachusetts: Edward Brooke. Also first African American to hold Massachusetts statewide office, and first African-American attorney general of any state.

First African-American woman to become a licensed architect in the state of California: Norma Merrick Sklarek

First woman and first African American to hold the position of West Virginia's mental health commissioner: Mildred Mitchell-Bateman^[102]

First African-American woman in Virginia to become a Certified Public Accountant (CPA): Ruth Coles Harris^[103]

1963

First African American elected to the Delaware Senate: Herman Holloway

1964

First African-American woman elected to the Indiana Legislature: Daisy Riley Lloyd

First African-American woman elected to the New York State Senate: Constance Baker Motley

First African-American woman to earn a contract with an American national symphony – with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra as principal keyboardist: Patricia Prattis Jennings^[104]

1965

First African-American woman elected to public office in Colorado (Denver Public Schools Board of Education: Rachel B. Noel

First African American to graduate from the University of Alabama: Vivian Malone Jones

1966

First African-American woman elected to the Texas Legislature: Barbara Jordan

First African American known lesbian state legislator: Barbara Jordan

First African-American woman elected to the Georgia General Assembly: Grace Towns Hamilton

First African-American appointed to New York State Board of Regents: Kenneth Bancroft Clark

First African-American senator from Massachusetts: Edward Brooke. (Also first post-Reconstruction African American elected to the U.S. Senate and first African American elected to the U.S. Senate by popular vote).

First African-American woman in the California Legislature: Yvonne Brathwaite Burke

First African-American woman elected to the Tennessee General Assembly: Dorothy Lavinia Brown

First African-American woman elected to the Arizona Legislature: Ethel Maynard

First African-American to serve on the Miami, Florida City Commission: M. Athalie Range

Baltimore Police Department (BPD) first allowed African-American officers to use squad cars. Previously, they were restricted to foot patrols^[105]

First African-American woman to earn a contract with an American national symphony – with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra as principal keyboardist, playing piano, harpsichord, organ and celesta: Patricia Prattis Jennings^[106]

1967

First African-American woman admitted to the Mississippi Bar: Marian Wright Edelman

First African-American woman elected to the Montana Legislature: Geraldine W. Travis

First African-American woman elected to the Baltimore City Council: Victorine Q. Adams

First African American elected to the Louisiana State Legislature since Reconstruction: Ernest Nathan Morial

First African-American woman graduate of the Loyola University New Orleans College of Law: Joan Bernard Armstrong^[107]

First African-American woman to complete a bachelor's degree at Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee: Dorothy J. Phillips^[108]

First African-American woman to be head of a Catholic hospital (St. Clare's Hospital in Baraboo, Wisconsin): Mary Antona Ebo^[109]

1968

First African-American elected to the Florida Legislature since Reconstruction: Joe Lang Kershaw

First African-American woman elected as a district court judge in North Carolina: Elreta Alexander-Ralston^[110]

1969

First African-American elected mayor of a Mississippi city since Reconstruction: Charles Evers, in Fayette, Mississippi^[111]

First African-American woman to become a full-time faculty member at the University of Kentucky when she joined the Department of Sociology: Doris Y. Wilkinson

1970

First African-Americans elected to the Alaska Legislature: Willard L. Bowman and Joshua Wright

First African-American woman elected to the Delaware General Assembly: Henrietta R. Johnson

First African-American woman elected to the Florida Legislature: Gwen Cherry

First African American elected as Juvenile Court judge in Louisiana: Ernest Nathan Morial

First African American to graduate with a medical degree from Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville, Tennessee: Levi Watkins^[112]

First African American to become superintendent of a large school district when appointed to the Oakland Unified School District in Oakland, California: Marcus Foster^[113]

1971

First African-American woman elected to the Washington Legislature: Peggy Maxie

First African-American woman to be elected to and serve in the Louisiana House of Representatives: Dorothy Mae Taylor

First African American to become chief resident of cardiac surgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland: Levi Watkins^[114]

First female judge in Milwaukee County and the first African-American judge in Wisconsin: Vel Phillips

First African American since Reconstruction and the first woman ever to head a state agency in Florida when appointed as Secretary of the Department of Community Affairs: M. Athalie Range^[115]

First African-American woman to earn a degree from University of Pittsburgh School of Law: Martha Richards Conley^[116]^[117]

First African-American woman faculty member of Emory University and founding director of the first African-American and African-Studies degree-granting program in the South: Delores P. Aldridge^[118]

1972

First African-American elected to the Wisconsin Senate: Monroe Swan

First African-American woman elected to the Colorado State House of Representatives: Arie Parks Taylor

First African Americans elected to the Selma City Council, Alabama since Reconstruction: Lorenzo Harrison Sr., Frederick D. Reese, Ernest Doyle, James Kimbrough and the Rev. William Kemp Sr.^[119]

First African-American woman associate professor at Georgetown University Law Center: Anita Martin^[120]

1973

First African-American woman elected to the Massachusetts General Court: Doris Bunte

First African-American woman elected to the Connecticut General Assembly: Margaret E. Morton

First African-American woman elected to the Dallas City Council: Lucy Patterson^[121]

1974

First African-American woman elected to the Michigan State Board of Education: Barbara Roberts Mason

First African-American man elected to the New Hampshire House of Representatives: Henry Richardson

First African American elected to the Louisiana Fourth Circuit Court of Appeal: Ernest Nathan Morial

First African-American woman and first woman elected judge in Louisiana: Joan Bernard Armstrong^[122]

One of the first African Americans elected to the Alabama Senate since Reconstruction: U. W. Clemon^[123]

1975

First African-American woman elected to the South Carolina Legislature: Juanita Goggins

First African-American woman in the state of California to receive a license to practice psychology: Gail E. Wyatt^[124]

1976

First African-American appointed as a judge in Federal District Court in Virginia: Robert H. Cooley III (1939–1998), appointed to the Eastern District^[125]

First African-American mayor in New Mexico: Albert Johnson^[126]

First African-American woman to be elected mayor in Mississippi: Unita Blackwell

1977

First African-American to serve on the California Supreme Court: Wiley W. Manuel

First African-American speaker of the South Carolina House of Representatives, and of any state legislature in the United States since Reconstruction: K. Leroy Irvis

First African-American woman elected to the Wisconsin Legislature: Marcia P. Coggs

First African-American woman elected to the Illinois Senate: Earlean Collins

First African American elected mayor of New Orleans: Ernest Nathan Morial

First African-American woman to work as an investigative reporter in Chicago: Renee Ferguson^[127]^[128]

First African-American woman judge in Massachusetts when appointed to be an associate justice of the Boston Municipal Court: Margaret Burnham^[129]

1978

First African-American appointed to the office of Michigan State Treasurer: Loren E. Monroe^[130]

First African-American woman elected to the Ohio Legislature: Helen Rankin

First African-American woman appointed as a judge in Maryland: Mabel Houze Hubbard

1979

First African-American elected to a statewide office in Illinois: Roland Burris, office of Comptroller

First African-American elected to a statewide office in Wisconsin: Vel Phillips, office of Secretary of State

First African-American woman to earn a Ph.D. in electrical engineering at the University of California, Davis: Giovonnae Anderson^[131]

First African-American woman law professor at Georgetown University Law Center to be awarded tenure: Patricia A. King^[132]

1980

First African-American speaker of the California State Assembly: Willie Lewis Brown Jr.

First African-American woman to be elected as a circuit court judge in Michigan: Lucile A. Watts

1981

First African-American woman elected to the Arkansas General Assembly: Irma Hunter Brown

First African-American elected to the Utah Senate: Terry Lee Williams

First African American to serve as superintendent for the Chicago Public Schools district: Ruth B. Love^[133]

1982

First African-American woman from Indiana elected to the U.S. House of Representatives: Katie Hall^[134]

First African American and first woman to complete a neurosurgery residency at Case Western University, Cleveland, Ohio: M. Deborrah Hyde^[135]^[136]

1983

First African American to be elected president of the National Association of Women Lawyers: Mahala Ashley Dickerson

First African-American woman elected to the Greensboro City Council: Katie G. Dorsett^[137]

1984

First African-American elected to a statewide office in Georgia: Robert Benham, Supreme Court of Georgia

First African-American woman to be elected to the Virginia General Assembly: Yvonne B. Miller

First African American to be sworn in as the New York City Police Commissioner: Benjamin Ward

First African-American woman to hold a Louisiana cabinet position (head of the state Department of Urban and Community Affairs): Dorothy Mae Taylor

1985

First African-American woman to be elected to the Mississippi Legislature: Alyce Clarke

First African-American woman elected to the Oregon Legislature: Margaret Carter

First African-American woman appointed Administrator of the Boston Housing Authority: Doris Bunte^[138]

1986

First African-American women elected to the Oklahoma State Senate: Vicki Miles-LaGrange and Maxine Horner

First African-American woman elected as county commissioner in Payne County, Oklahoma: Bernice Mitchell

1987

First African-American justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court: Robert D. Glass

First African-American woman to anchor a nightly newscast in Cleveland, and the first solo anchor of a weeknight newscast in that city: Romona Robinson^[139]

1988

First African-American elected to the Wyoming Legislature: Harriet Elizabeth Byrd

First African-American woman in the United States to serve on the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania: Juanita Kidd Stout

First African-American woman to earn a PhD at the University of Michigan in chemical engineering: Rosemarie Wesson

First African-American woman to earn a doctorate in electrical engineering at Rice University, Houston, Texas: Sandra Johnson^[140]

First African-American woman to become a superior court judge in Georgia: Leah Ward Sears^[141]

1989

First African American elected student body president of Texas A&M University: Ashanti Johnson^[142]

First African-American woman to earn a Ph.D. in Old Testament Studies from Princeton Theological Seminary: Renita J. Weems^[143]

1990

First African-American governor of Virginia: Douglas Wilder (also first elected governor in US; see also P. B. S. Pinchback, 1872)

First African-American woman elected to the Alaska Legislature: Bettye Davis

First African-American principal dancer for the Houston Ballet: Lauren Anderson^[144]

1991

First African-American woman elected to the Louisiana State Senate: Diana Bajoie

First woman to serve as a California horse racing steward: Cheryl White

1992

First African-American elected to a statewide office in Indiana: Pamela Carter, office of Attorney General

First African-American Minnesota Supreme Court justice: Alan Page

First African-American woman elected to Congress: Barbara-Rose Collins

First African American since the Reconstruction era elected to represent Florida in the United States Congress: Carrie Meek

First African Americans to win election to the United States House of Representatives from North Carolina since 1898: Eva Clayton and Mel Watt

First African-American woman to receive a bachelor's degree in physics from the University of Virginia: Marta Dark McNeese^[145]

1993

First African-American senator from Illinois: Carol Moseley Braun. (Also first African-American woman elected to the United States Senate, the first African-American U.S. Senator for the Democratic Party, the first woman to defeat an incumbent U.S. Senator in an election, and the first female Senator from Illinois).

First African-American woman elected to the Selma City Council, Alabama: Nancy Sewell^[146]

1994

First African-American woman elected to the Nevada Legislature: Bernice Mathews

First African-American woman elected to the Delaware Senate: Margaret Rose Henry

First African-American woman to serve as a Colorado state senator: Gloria Tanner

First African-American woman from Alabama to earn a Ph.D. degree in physics (Alabama A&M University): Shelia Nash-Stevenson^[147]

1996

First African-American woman elected to the Oregon Legislature: Avel Gordly

1998

First African-American woman elected State Treasurer and first African-American woman elected statewide in Connecticut: Denise Nappier^[148]

First African-American elected to office of Attorney General of Georgia: Thurbert E. Baker

First African-American woman to earn a Ph.D. in Astronomy from the University of Michigan: Beth A. Brown

First African American to serve as a mayor on the Eastern Shore of Maryland and to be elected to any countywide office in Worcester County, Maryland (Orphan’s Court Judge): Fannie Birckhead^[149]

First woman and the first African American to be appointed as Chief Justice for Administration and Management for the Massachusetts Trial Court: Barbara A. Dortch-Okara^[150]

1999

First African-American woman justice of the Supreme Court of Florida: Peggy Quince

First African American to earn a doctoral degree in oceanography from Texas A&M University: Ashanti Johnson^[151]

First African-American woman to earn her Ph.D. in astronomy at University of Washington: Dara Norman^[152]

21st century

2001

First African-American woman elected to the Minnesota Legislature: Neva Walker

First African-American woman in the Missouri Air National Guard to be promoted to Brigadier general: Edith Mitchell^[153]

First African American elected mayor pro tem of Greensboro: Yvonne Johnson^[154]^[155]

2002

First African-American lieutenant governor of Maryland and first elected to statewide office in Maryland: Michael Steele (see also: 2009)

First African-American woman president of a State Medical Society in the United States (President of the Medical Association State of Alabama): Regina Benjamin^[156]

2003

First African-American woman to be crowned Miss Florida in the Miss America pageant's 81-year history: Ericka Dunlap

2004

First African-American District Attorney in California: Kamala Harris (San Francisco) (see also: 2010, 2017)

First African-American Oklahoma Supreme Court justice: Tom Colbert

First African-American Wisconsin Supreme Court justice: Louis B. Butler

First African-American Auditor of Accounts of Vermont and first elected to statewide office in Vermont: Randy Brock

First African-American congresswoman elected in Wisconsin's history: Gwen Moore

2005

First African-American woman chief justice of a state supreme court in the United States when she became Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Georgia: Leah Ward Sears^[157]

2006

First African-American elected governor of Massachusetts: Deval Patrick

First African-American lieutenant governor of New York: David Paterson

First African-American woman to graduate with a PhD in physics from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland: Jami Valentine^[158]

First African-American woman to serve on the North Carolina Supreme Court: Patricia Timmons-Goodson^[159]

2007

First African-American appointed State Treasurer of New Jersey: Michellene Davis

First African American elected mayor of Greensboro: Yvonne Johnson^[160]

2008

First African-American woman elected Speaker of the California State Assembly: Karen Bass

First African-American governor of New York State: David Paterson (elected as lieutenant governor, succeeded on resignation of previous governor)

First African-American women elected to the Nebraska Legislature: Tanya Cook and Brenda Council

First African-American woman to head any branch of Florida government when she assumed the office of Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Florida: Peggy Quince

First African-American woman elected to the Kansas Senate: Oletha Faust-Goudeau

First African-American woman to be elected president of the American Academy of Religion (AAR): Emilie Townes^[161]

2009

First bicameral state legislature to have both chambers headed simultaneously by African Americans: Peter Groff and Terrance Carroll of Colorado

First African-American woman elected to the Boston City Council: Ayanna Pressley

2010

First African-American elected Attorney General of California: Kamala Harris (see also: 2004, 2017)

First African-American Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court: Roderick L. Ireland

First African-American elected to the Idaho Legislature: Cherie Buckner-Webb

First African-American woman elected to Congress from Alabama: Terri Sewell

First African-American woman elected to the Colorado State House of Representatives, representing District 42 from Aurora, Colorado: Rhonda Fields

First African-American woman to be attorney general in New Jersey: Paula Dow

First African-American woman elected mayor of Tacoma, Washington.^[162]

2011

First African-American woman to earn tenure in the College of Engineering at Purdue University: Monica Cox^[163]

2012

First African-American elected to the Idaho Senate: Cherie Buckner-Webb

Second African-American woman and the fourth African American to earn a doctoral degree in physics from The University of Alabama at Birmingham: Hadiyah-Nicole Green^[164]

First African-American woman to serve as a Jefferson County, Alabama municipal and circuit court judge: Carole Smitherman^[165]

2013

First African-American senator from South Carolina: Tim Scott^[166] (Also the first African-American to serve both houses of the U.S. Congress.)

First African-American woman to be appointed to a seat on the New York Court of Appeals: Sheila Abdus-Salaam.

First African-American senator from New Jersey: Cory Booker

First African-American woman to serve as Chief Deputy Attorney General for the Commonwealth of Virginia: Cynthia Eppes Hudson

First African-American woman to serve as a judge on the Maryland Court of Appeals, the state's highest court: Shirley M. Watts

First African American to serve as the chief justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court: Bernette Joshua Johnson^[167]^[168]

First African American dean at Vanderbilt Divinity School: Emilie Townes^[169]

First African-American woman to serve as a Justice of the Massachusetts Appeals Court: Geraldine Hines^[170]

2014

First African-American senator elected from the South since Reconstruction: Tim Scott^[171]

First African-American woman to represent New Jersey in the U.S. House of Representatives: Bonnie Watson Coleman

First African-American woman to be elected to the Illinois House of Representatives 103rd district: Carol Ammons

First woman and the first African American to lead Trinity College (Connecticut): Joanne Berger-Sweeney^[172]

First African-American woman to be named the John H. Harland dean of Emory University's Goizueta Business School: Erika H. James^[173]

First African-American woman to complete her PhD in astrophysics at Yale University: Jedidah Isler^[174]

First African-American woman to serve as an associate justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court: Geraldine Hines^[175]

2015

First African-American elected Speaker of the New York State Assembly: Carl Heastie^[176]

First African-American Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky and first elected to statewide office in Kentucky: Jenean Hampton^[177]^[178]

First African-American woman elected to the Utah Legislature: Sandra Hollins

First African-American woman from Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, selected for the government's Senior Executive Service (SES): Juanita Christensen^[179]

First African Americans to own a cannabis dispensary and an edibles business in Colorado: Wanda James and Scott Durrah^[180]

2016

First African-American woman to serve as superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), the second-largest school district in the United States: Michelle King

First African American to serve as president of Wellesley College: Paula Johnson^[181]

2017

First African-American United States Senator from California: Kamala Harris (see also: 2004, 2010)

First African-American elected lieutenant governor of New Jersey: Sheila Oliver^[182]

First African-American out trans woman to be elected to public office in the United States: Andrea Jenkins

First African-American woman to serve as district attorney in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania: Kelley B. Hodge

2018

First female African-American major-party candidate for governor: Stacey Abrams, Georgia

First African-American elected Lieutenant Governor of Michigan: Garlin Gilchrist^[183]

First African-American Attorney General of New York: Letitia James^[184]

First African-American and First woman elected Speaker of the Maryland House of Delegates: Adrienne A. Jones

First African-American elected Lieutenant Governor of Illinois: Juliana Stratton

First African-American woman elected to represent Connecticut in Congress: Jahana Hayes

First African-American woman elected to Congress from Massachusetts: Ayanna Pressley

2019

First African-American elected Attorney General of Kentucky: Daniel Cameron

First Surgeon General for the State of California: Nadine Burke Harris^[185]

First African-American woman elected to be chair of the Michigan Democratic Party: Lavora Barnes

First African-American woman to serve as director of the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) in its 143-year history: Ngozi Ezike^[186]

First African-American woman to serve as chief justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court: Cheri Beasley^[187]

First African-American Woman elected as a Portland City Commissioner, Portland, Oregon: Jo Ann Hardesty^[188]

2020

First African-American congresswoman elected in Missouri's history: Cori Bush^[189]

First African-American elected Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina: Mark Robinson

First African-American woman and first woman to be named dean of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania: Erika H. James^[190]

First African-American woman to serve on the Raleigh City Council: Stormie Forte^[191]

First African-American Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court: Kimberly S. Budd^[192]

2021

First African-American senator from Georgia and first African-American Democratic Senator from the South: Raphael Warnock^[193]

First African-American woman to serve on the Supreme Court of Missouri: Robin Ransom^[194]

First African-American woman elected Lieutenant Governor of Virginia: Winsome Sears

First African-American woman to serve as Secretary of the State of Connecticut: Natalie Braswell^[195]

First woman and third Black person to serve as the New York City Police Commissioner: Keechant Sewell^[196]

First African-American woman to serve as United States federal judge for the Northern District of Mississippi: Debra M. Brown

2022

First African-American elected Attorney General of Maryland: Anthony Brown

First African-American woman elected Attorney General of Massachusetts: Andrea Campbell

First African-American elected Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania: Austin Davis

First African-American congresswoman elected in Pennsylvania's history: Summer Lee

First African-American elected governor of Maryland: Wes Moore

First African-American elected Speaker of the Michigan House of Representatives: Joe Tate

First African-American woman elected Secretary of State of Connecticut: Stephanie Thomas

First African-American elected Secretary of State of California: Shirley Weber

First African-American woman elected to an executive office in Delaware (the Delaware Auditor of Accounts): Lydia York

2023

First African-American woman elected Speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives: Joanna McClinton^[197]

First African-American woman to serve as the Secretary of the State of Connecticut: Stephanie Thomas^[198]

2024

First African American elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Oregon: Janelle Bynum

First African-American woman to earn a Ph.D. in Robotics from the University of Michigan: Oluwami Dosunmu-Ogunbi^[199]

2025

First woman and first African American to represent Delaware in both chambers of Congress: Lisa Blunt Rochester

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19th century

20th century

21st century

See also

References