Black History Month celebrations often focus on the courage of Dr. Martin Luther King, Malcolm X and Rosa Parks. Those leaders played important roles in the civil rights movement yet they aren’t the only African-American heroes who shaped the nation’s laws. Black lawmakers have greatly improved the quality of life for racial minorities and humanity as a whole. The time has come to honor and reflect on the contributions of the country’s most influential African-American lawmakers.
African Americans’ Legislative Impact Began Sooner Than You Might Think
It wasn’t long ago when the nation’s laws were primarily made by white men. The makeup of the United States’ legislature began to change in the late 19th century when African Americans were allowed to serve in the United States Congress. At the time, only a few thousand Blacks held local and state office. However, momentum was gradually building. The civil rights movement of the 50s and 60s desegregated the country, helping the nation reach a tipping point for social change.
Rewind to 1867, James Carter, a lawmaker representing Powhatan and Chesterfield counties made a lasting imprint on the nation’s legal framework. It was at the Virginia Constitutional Convention that Carter introduced a resolution mandating students attend public school for a minimum of three months per year.
James William Bland, a representative of Appomattox County, also made his voice heard at the Virginia Constitutional Convention. Bland called for a guarantee of the right of individuals to enter college and public education institutions with equal terms independent of race.
The Legislative War Against Racism and Poll Taxes
Fast forward to 1871 Joseph Rainey became the first black person elected to the United States House of Representatives. Rainey capitalized on the opportunity, convincing his fellow lawmakers to vote to pass the Ku Klux Klan Act that safeguarded blacks against KKK violence.
In 1879, Johnson Collins, a Brunswick County representative, advocated for the elimination of the unnecessary poll tax that impeded impoverished minorities from voting. Collins is also revered for his plea to decrease the nation’s growing debt.
Aaron A. Bradley, a South Carolina native, later moved to Augusta, GA where he became a shoemaker. Bradley, a black man, used his business as a launching pad into the field of law. He fled the discriminatory south, venturing north to become an attorney. Bradley returned home to Georgia in 1865 with his law degree in-hand. He used his Juris Doctor to become a black delegation member at the constitutional convention. Fast forward three years and Bradley was elected as a First District state senator.
Though Bradley did not succeed in winning reparations or obtaining land as compensation for discrimination, he united Savannah plantation laborers for collective benefit.
The Black Women Who Changed History
Shirley Chisholm was a barrier breaker for the ages. Elected to Congress in 1969, Chisholm, a black woman, laid the legal foundation for SNAP and WIC food assistance programs for those in need. The food assistance programs have been critically important for providing sustenance to impoverished African Americans, Latinos and others. Though few know it, WIC lends assistance to pregnant women and children at 10,000+ clinic sites throughout the nation.
Chisholm passed the torch to Maxine Waters, whom many consider to be the most accomplished African American female lawmaker in United States history. Waters, a passionate advocate for women, racial minorities and the poor, is the voice of the voiceless. Waters authored several pieces of legislation while working for the California State Assembly. The Congresswoman spearheaded a law mandating state agencies award a specific percentage of contracts in the publishing sphere to racial minorities and women.
Waters also helped pass laws to minimize police strip searches and advance tenant rights. She also authored legislation to extend health services for individuals with Alzheimer’s disease, cancer and diabetes.
Give Thanks to Our Nation’s Courageous Black Lawmakers
Chisholm, Waters and the others described above are heroic profiles in courage that will inspire change in the years and decades to come. We all should take a moment to pay homage to these African American lawmakers this Black History Month.
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