Program Success Magazine Black History 2023 | Page 9

In the nearly 232-year history of the US Senate there have only been 11 Black Senators

Newly elected Raphael Warnock is only the 11th Black US senator since the Senate convened for the first time in 1789 . Only two of those have been women . And with the departure of Kamala Harris , the number of Black female US senators is now at zero .
Hiram Revels , Republican Hiram Revels was a former barber and minister whose served in the US Senate from 1870-1871 .
Blanche K . Bruce , Republican Sen . Blanche K . Bruce of Mississippi was the first African American to serve a full term in the US Senate from 1875 to 1881 .
Edward Brooke , Republican Sen . Edward Brooke of Massachusetts was the first African American elected to the US Senate by popular vote from 1967 to 1979 .
Carol Moseley Braun , Democrat Carol Moseley Braun shattered barriers as the first Black female US senator from 1993 to 1999 .
Barack Obama , Democrat Barack Obama was the fifth Black US senator and only the third one elected by voters . He took the oath of office in January 2005 after serving in the Illinois state senate for almost eight years . Obama served one term in the Senate before running for President in 2008 .
Roland Burris , Democrat Roland Burris was appointed in 2008 to fill President Obama ’ s vacated seat in the US Senate . He served in the Senate until November 2010 .
Tim Scott , Republican In 2013 Tim Scott of South Carolina became the first African American US senator from the deep South since Reconstruction .
William Cowan , Democrat William Cowan was appointed to fill John Kerry ’ s seat after Kerry resigned in 2013 to become secretary of state .
Cory Booker , Democrat Cory Booker was the first African American to represent New Jersey in the US Senate in 2013 .
Kamala Harris , Democrat Kamala Harris was the first Black woman to represent California in the US senate when she took office in January 2017
Raphael Warnock , Democrat Rev . Raphael Warnock ’ s win in a Georgia runoff elected him to become Georgia ’ s first Black senator in 2020 . He was re-elected in another runoff election in 2022 to serve his first full-term . Along with Booker and Scott , he is one of three African Americans in the current Senate .
Program Success 9 Black History 2023