# List of African-American U.S. state firsts

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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."
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.
* 1868
       First elected African-American lieutenant governor: Oscar Dunn, Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana
       First 33 African-American legislators in Georgia: see Original 33
* 1870
       First African-American senator from Mississippi: Hiram R. Revels (also first in U.S.)
* 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)
* 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
* 1876
       First African American elected to the Illinois General Assembly: John W. E. Thomas
* 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
* 1885
       First African American elected to the Rhode Island General Assembly: Mahlon Van Horne
* 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).
* 1893
       First African-American member elected to the Michigan House of Representatives: William Webb Ferguson
* 1898
       First African-American member elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives: John Francis Wheaton

## 20th century

* 1906
       First African-American elected to the Wisconsin Legislature: Lucian H. Palmer
* 1917
       First African American to enter the University of Oregon: Mabel Byrd
* 1918
       First African-American elected to political office in California: Frederick Madison Roberts, California State Assembly
* 1920
       First African-American elected to the Missouri legislature: Walthall Moore
* 1924
       First African-American elected to the Illinois Senate: Adelbert Roberts
* 1930
       First African Americans elected as judges in the state of New York: James S. Watson and Charles E. Toney
* 1938
       First African-American woman to be elected to the Pennsylvania General Assembly and to any state legislature: Crystal Bird Fauset
* 1939
       First African-American woman to own a cosmetology school in Iowa: Pauline Brown Humphrey
* 1948
       First African American elected to the Delaware House of Representatives: William J. Winchester
* 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
* 1952
       First African American to graduate from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences: Edith Irby Jones
* 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
* 1956
       First African-American student to attend the University of Alabama: Autherine Lucy Her expulsion from the institution later that year led to the university's President Oliver Carmichael's resignation.
       First African American to teach at college or university level in California: Betty Smith Williams.
* 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
* 1959
       First African American to graduate from the University of Maryland: Elaine J. Coates
* 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.
* 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
* 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
* 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
* 1968
       First African-American elected to the Florida Legislature since Reconstruction: Joe Lang Kershaw
* 1969
       First African-American elected mayor of a Mississippi city since Reconstruction: Charles Evers, in Fayette, Mississippi
* 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
* 1971
       First African-American woman elected to the Washington Legislature: Peggy Maxie
* 1972
       First African-American elected to the Wisconsin Senate: Monroe Swan
* 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
* 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
* 1975
       First African-American woman elected to the South Carolina Legislature: Juanita Goggins
* 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
       First African-American elected mayor in New Mexico: Albert Johnson
* First African-American mayor in New Mexico: Albert Johnson
* 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
* 1978
       First African-American appointed to the office of Michigan State Treasurer: Loren E. Monroe
       First African-American woman elected to the Ohio Legislature: Helen Rankin
* 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
* 1980
       First African-American speaker of the California State Assembly: Willie Lewis Brown Jr.
* 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
* 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
* 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
* 1987
* First African-American justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court: Robert D. Glass
* 1988
       First African-American elected to the Wyoming Legislature: Harriet Elizabeth Byrd
* 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
* 1991
       First African-American woman elected to the Louisiana State Senate: Diana Bajoie
* 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
* 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).
* 1994
       First African-American woman elected to the Nevada Legislature: Bernice Mathews
       First African-American woman elected to the Delaware Senate: Margaret Rose Henry
* 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
       First African-American elected to office of Attorney General of Georgia: Thurbert E. Baker

## 21st century

* 2001
       First African-American woman elected to the Minnesota Legislature: Neva Walker
* 2002
       First African-American lieutenant governor of Maryland and first elected to statewide office in Maryland: Michael Steele (see also: 2009)
* 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
* 2006
       First African-American elected governor of Massachusetts: Deval Patrick
       First African-American lieutenant governor of New York: David Paterson
* 2007
       First African-American appointed State Treasurer of New Jersey: Michellene Davis
* 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
* 2009
       First bicameral state legislature to have both chambers headed simultaneously by African Americans: Peter Groff and Terrance Carroll of Colorado.
* 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
* 2012
       First African-American elected to the Idaho Senate: Cherie Buckner-Webb
* 2013
       First African-American senator from South Carolina: Tim Scott (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
* 2014
       First African-American senator elected from the South since Reconstruction: Tim Scott
* 2015
       First African-American elected Speaker of the New York State Assembly: Carl Heastie
       First African-American Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky and first elected to statewide office in Kentucky: Jenean Hampton
       First African-American woman elected to the Utah Legislature: Sandra Hollins
* 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
       First African-American out trans woman to be elected to public office in the United States: Andrea Jenkins
* 2018
       First female African-American major-party candidate for governor: Stacey Abrams, Georgia
       First African-American elected Lieutenant Governor of Michigan: Garlin Gilchrist
       First African-American Attorney General of New York: Letitia James
       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
* 2019
       First African-American elected Attorney General of Kentucky: Daniel Cameron
       First Surgeon General for the State of California: Nadine Burke Harris
* 2020
       First African-American congresswoman elected in Missouri's history: Cori Bush
       First African-American elected Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina: Mark Robinson
* 2021
       First African-American senator from Georgia and first African-American Democratic Senator from the South: Raphael Warnock
       First African-American woman to serve on the Supreme Court of Missouri: Robin Ransom
       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
* 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
* 2023
       First African-American woman elected Speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives: Joanna McClinton