11 Black Politicians Who Made History - Page 7

Sometimes America can be messed up, but the rare bit of political diversity provides a glimmer of hope for engaging in a functionally flawed system. That hope comes in the form of the few African-American politicians who wield real power and can dictate public policy.

photo: WENN

Seeing unarmed people of color gunned down in the streets is the type of thing that makes you want to spell America with three Ks like Ice Cube once did.

Hopefully remembering the achievements of these 11 black politicians who made history will make you want to go hard in the voting booth. Hit the jump and remember these pioneers next time you exercise the right to vote.

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Photo: WENN

photo: WENN

General Colin Powell

There were a lot of terrible things about the George W. Bush administration, but Powell’s appointment as the first black United States Secretary of State was a silver lining in the eight-year cloud that was the Bush Administration 2.0.

Carol Moseley Braun

In 1992, Braun (D-Illinois) became the first African-American woman elected to the Senate.

Lawrence Douglas Wilder

Technically, there were black governors during the Reconstruction Era. But we know how well that ended. In 1989, Wilder was elected the governor of Virginia, which made him the first state Governor of African-American descent since Reconstruction.

Shirley Chisholm

Chisholm (D-New York, 12^th District) became the first black woman in the House of Representatives in 1968. She wasn’t merely a politician, Chisholm was a lifelong educator straight from Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn.

Thurgood Marshall

The man your favorite scholarship is named after became the first black Supreme Court Justice in 1967. Surprisingly, he was appointed by Lyndon B. Johnson, and thankfully Marshall’s achievement makes sure Clarence Thomas is not the only brother rocking a Supreme Court robe.

photo: WENN

Eric Holder

Fans of institutionalized racism can’t stand how holder dropped the hammer with the DOJ report on the Ferguson Police Department. Might they be jealous or spiteful that he holds the distinction as the America’s first black Attorney General? If you have to ask…

Carl Stokes

Before there was Tom Bradley or Kasim Reed, Carl Stokes held down the title as the first post-Reconstruction mayor of a US city when he took the mayoral office of Cleveland, Ohio.

John Lewis (D-Georgia, 5^th District)

Lewis marched with Martin Luther King Jr. over the Edmund Pettis Bridge during the “Bloody Sunday” trek from Birmingham to Selma, Alabama. We’ll use him as a stand in for everyone else who marched and was recognized with Congressional Medals of Freedom. Aside from that achievement, which helped usher in the Voting Rights Act of 1965, Lewis now serves as a U.S. Representative for Georgia’s 5^th congressional district.

photo: WENN

Condoleezza Rice

Following Powell made Rice the first African-American female United States Secretary of State. Their respective appointments made them both the highest-ranking African-Americans in the history of the US Cabinet Secretaries.

photo: WENN

President Barack Obama

Barack Obama is the first President of African-American descent (don’t come with that lame Clinton joke), and as far as we know, the highest ranking government official to brush dirt off his shoulders and quote T-Pain. All he does is reform healthcare and win.