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."

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

19th century
1868
First elected African-American lieutenant governor: Oscar Dunn, Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana
 First 33 African-American legislators in Georgia: see Original 33

1870
May: 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
First African-American governor of Louisiana: P. B. S. Pinchback (Also first in U.S.) (Non-elected; see also Douglas Wilder, 1990)

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

1879
First African American elected to the Wyoming Legislature: William Jefferson Hardin

1880
First African-American elected to the Indiana general assembly: James Sidney Hinton

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
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

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

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

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

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.

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

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 Florida Legislature: Gwen Cherry

1971
First African-American woman elected to the Washington Legislature: Peggy Maxie

1973
 First African-American woman elected to the Massachusetts General Court: Doris Bunte
 First African-American woman elected to the Connecticut General Assembly: Margaret Morton

1975
 First African-American woman elected to the South Carolina Legislature: Juanita Goggins

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

1978
 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 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

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

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

 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 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 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

2006
First African-American elected governor of Massachusetts: Deval Patrick
First African-American lieutenant governor of New York: David Paterson

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 attorney general of California: Kamala Harris
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.

2014
First African-American senator elected from the South since Reconstruction: Tim Scott 

 First African-American female mayor of San Antonio: Ivy Taylor   

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 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
First African-American mayor of Saint Paul, Minnesota: Melvin Carter

2018
First female African-American major-party candidate for governor: Stacey Abrams, Georgia
First African-American elected lieutenant governor of Illinois: Juliana Stratton

See also

List of first African American mayors

References

African-American
1, State