List of African-American U.S. state firsts

See also: List of African-American 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]}

• 1868

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

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

• 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.)

• 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)^[3][4]

• 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^[5][6]

• 1885

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

• 1888

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

• 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).^[7][8]

• 1891

First woman to be licensed as a physician in the U.S. state of Alabama: Halle Tanner Dillon Johnson^[9]

• 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

• 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^[10]

• 1898

First African-American member elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives: John Francis Wheaton^[11]

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^[12]

20th century

• 1906

First African-American elected to the Wisconsin Legislature: Lucian H. Palmer^[13][14]

• 1915

First African American and first woman to graduate from the University of Hawaiʻi (master’s degree in chemistry)^[15]

• 1917

First African American to enter the University of Oregon: Mabel Byrd^[16]

• 1918

First African-American elected to political office in California: Frederick Madison Roberts, California State Assembly^[17]

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

• 1920

First African-American elected to the Missouri legislature: Walthall Moore^[18][19]

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

• 1922

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

• 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

• 1930

First African Americans elected as judges in the state of New York: James S. Watson and Charles E. Toney^[20]

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

• 1931

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

• 1933

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

• 1937

First African American and first woman appointed as an assistant attorney general in Ohio: Helen Elsie Austin^[21]

• 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^[22]

• 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

• 1949

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

• 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 practice law in the state of Maryland: Juanita Jackson Mitchell^[23]

• 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^[24]

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

• 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

• 1956

First African-American student to attend the University of Alabama: Autherine Lucy^[25] Her expulsion from the institution later that year led to the university's President Oliver Carmichael's resignation.^[26][27]

First African American to teach at college or university level in California: Betty Smith Williams.^[28][29]

• 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^[30]

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

• 1959

First African American to graduate from the University of Maryland: Elaine J. Coates^[31]

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

• 1961

First African-American students to attend the University of Georgia: Charlayne Hunter and Hamilton Holmes^[32]

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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^[33]

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^[34]

• 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^[35]

• 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

• 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

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

• 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^[36]

First African-American mayor in New Mexico: Albert Johnson^[37]

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

• 1978

First African-American appointed to the office of Michigan State Treasurer: Loren E. Monroe^[38]

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

• 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

• 1983

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

• 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^[39]

• 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

• 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

• 1989

First African American elected student body president of Texas A&M University: Ashanti Johnson^[40]

• 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

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^[41]

• 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

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

• 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^[42]

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

• 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^[43]

First African-American woman to earn her Ph.D. in astronomy at University of Washington: Dara Norman^[44]

21st century

Official portrait of Kamala Harris, 2011

• 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)

• 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

• 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^[45]

• 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

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

• 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

• 2012

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

• 2013

First African-American senator from South Carolina: Tim Scott^[46] (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

• 2014

First African-American senator elected from the South since Reconstruction: Tim Scott^[47]

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

• 2015

First African-American elected Speaker of the New York State Assembly: Carl Heastie^[48]

First African-American Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky and first elected to statewide office in Kentucky: Jenean Hampton^[49][50]

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

• 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

• 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^[51]

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^[52]

First African-American Attorney General of New York: Letitia James^[53]

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^[54]

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

• 2020

First African-American congresswoman elected in Missouri's history: Cori Bush^[55]

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^[56]

First African-American woman to serve on the Supreme Court of Missouri: Robin Ransom^[57]

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^[58]

First woman and third Black person to serve as the New York City Police Commissioner: Keechant Sewell^[59]

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^[60]

• 2024

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

• 2025

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

See also

• List of first African American mayors