WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.879 Welcome to the Deep Dive. We have a really compelling 00:00:02.879 --> 00:00:05.320 topic lined up for you today. We do. And it's 00:00:05.320 --> 00:00:06.919 one of those things that, you know, at first 00:00:06.919 --> 00:00:09.279 glance, it might sound a bit dry. Right. Like 00:00:09.279 --> 00:00:11.640 something you just skim over in a dense textbook. 00:00:11.880 --> 00:00:14.980 Exactly. Because we are exploring a fascinating 00:00:14.980 --> 00:00:18.379 but surprisingly small data set that we pulled 00:00:18.379 --> 00:00:21.109 from a Wikipedia article. And the article is 00:00:21.109 --> 00:00:23.670 titled List of African -American United States 00:00:23.670 --> 00:00:26.589 Senators. Yeah. And the actual data hidden inside 00:00:26.589 --> 00:00:29.710 this list, it tells an incredibly complex story 00:00:29.710 --> 00:00:32.530 about American history. It really does. It's 00:00:32.530 --> 00:00:35.609 about political power and, well, the literal 00:00:35.609 --> 00:00:37.939 architecture of our government. Because the story 00:00:37.939 --> 00:00:40.640 embedded in this specific data set, it's anything 00:00:40.640 --> 00:00:43.719 but a straight line of progress. It's characterized 00:00:43.719 --> 00:00:47.479 by sudden starts, these agonizing stops. These 00:00:47.479 --> 00:00:49.560 long stretches of complete silence. Exactly. 00:00:49.619 --> 00:00:52.780 And then in the modern era, rapid bursts of change. 00:00:53.079 --> 00:00:55.439 So looking closely at this relatively short list 00:00:55.439 --> 00:00:58.539 offers a brilliant lens through which to understand 00:00:58.539 --> 00:01:00.820 the structural evolution of the United States. 00:01:01.240 --> 00:01:04.079 It really is the perfect mission for this deep 00:01:04.079 --> 00:01:06.840 dive. Because to give you a sense... of the sheer 00:01:06.840 --> 00:01:09.439 scale we are talking about. Let's look at the 00:01:09.439 --> 00:01:11.700 baseline numbers. The numbers are staggering. 00:01:11.980 --> 00:01:16.079 Since the year 1789, more than 2 ,000 individuals 00:01:16.079 --> 00:01:18.879 have served in the United States Senate. 2 ,000. 00:01:18.980 --> 00:01:22.159 Over 2 ,000. And it's often called the world's 00:01:22.159 --> 00:01:25.340 greatest deliberative body, holding immense power 00:01:25.340 --> 00:01:28.780 over treaties, Supreme Court nominations, federal 00:01:28.780 --> 00:01:31.280 law. Right. But out of those 2 ,000 plus people, 00:01:31.340 --> 00:01:35.290 across more than two centuries, exactly 14. have 00:01:35.290 --> 00:01:38.629 been African -American. 14. Just 14. That is 00:01:38.629 --> 00:01:41.609 less than 1 % of all the senators in American 00:01:41.609 --> 00:01:43.750 history. Which is an incredible hook when you 00:01:43.750 --> 00:01:46.390 really think about it. It is. So today we're 00:01:46.390 --> 00:01:48.549 going to explore the trailblazers who make up 00:01:48.549 --> 00:01:50.829 that tiny fraction. We'll look at the mechanics 00:01:50.829 --> 00:01:54.250 of the historical gap between them and the milestones 00:01:54.250 --> 00:01:56.329 that define the current political landscape. 00:01:56.510 --> 00:01:58.549 And to understand how we arrive at that number 00:01:58.549 --> 00:02:01.750 of 14. We really first have to establish the 00:02:01.750 --> 00:02:04.230 early reality of the American political system. 00:02:04.390 --> 00:02:06.989 Set the context for us. Right. So the Senate 00:02:06.989 --> 00:02:09.289 is the upper house of Congress. representing 00:02:09.289 --> 00:02:11.550 the legislative branch of the federal government. 00:02:11.750 --> 00:02:14.389 For the first several decades of the United States, 00:02:14.689 --> 00:02:17.370 African -Americans were systemically locked out 00:02:17.370 --> 00:02:19.810 of this institution. Completely locked out. Completely. 00:02:19.909 --> 00:02:22.389 During the founding era and well into the 19th 00:02:22.389 --> 00:02:25.310 century, millions of African -Americans were 00:02:25.310 --> 00:02:28.129 enslaved. Yeah. And those who were free were 00:02:28.129 --> 00:02:30.949 largely consigned to a status of second class 00:02:30.949 --> 00:02:34.169 citizenship with virtually no voting power. There 00:02:34.169 --> 00:02:37.530 was zero federal elective representation. So 00:02:37.530 --> 00:02:40.080 the entire. legal foundation of the country had 00:02:40.080 --> 00:02:43.039 to change fundamentally before this list could 00:02:43.039 --> 00:02:46.020 even begin. It did. And that fundamental change 00:02:46.020 --> 00:02:48.219 arrived in the aftermath of the American Civil 00:02:48.219 --> 00:02:51.060 War, specifically with the ratification of the 00:02:51.060 --> 00:02:53.840 15th Amendment in 1870. Right. This amendment 00:02:53.840 --> 00:02:56.560 explicitly prohibited federal and state governments 00:02:56.560 --> 00:02:59.379 from denying any citizen the right to vote based 00:02:59.379 --> 00:03:02.500 on that citizen's race, color, or previous condition 00:03:02.500 --> 00:03:05.159 of servitude. Which was a massive shift. A massive 00:03:05.159 --> 00:03:07.819 constitutional shift that cracked the door open 00:03:07.819 --> 00:03:10.139 for the very first chapter of our story. OK, 00:03:10.199 --> 00:03:12.460 let's unpack this, because that brings us to 00:03:12.460 --> 00:03:14.979 the Reconstruction era, which was a period of 00:03:14.979 --> 00:03:18.120 profound firsts, but also deep, deep resistance. 00:03:18.300 --> 00:03:20.620 Very deep resistance. So we travel back to the 00:03:20.620 --> 00:03:23.360 year 1870, almost immediately after that 15th 00:03:23.360 --> 00:03:26.000 Amendment is passed. Hiram Rhodes, Rebels of 00:03:26.000 --> 00:03:28.199 Mississippi, makes history as the very first 00:03:28.199 --> 00:03:30.759 African -American to serve in the United States 00:03:30.759 --> 00:03:33.960 Senate. Yes. But getting him officially seated 00:03:33.960 --> 00:03:37.300 in the chamber. involved this massive political 00:03:37.300 --> 00:03:40.379 and legal fight. It was a huge fight. The environment 00:03:40.379 --> 00:03:43.699 in Washington was highly volatile. And to understand 00:03:43.699 --> 00:03:45.780 the mechanics of this fight, it helps to remember 00:03:45.780 --> 00:03:48.099 how senators were chosen at the time. Right. 00:03:48.159 --> 00:03:50.319 Because it wasn't like today. Exactly. Today, 00:03:50.659 --> 00:03:53.099 you and I, we vote directly for our senators 00:03:53.099 --> 00:03:55.659 on a ballot. But prior to the ratification of 00:03:55.659 --> 00:03:58.639 the 17th Amendment in 1913, senators were elected 00:03:58.639 --> 00:04:01.340 by their state legislatures. Right. So the Mississippi 00:04:01.340 --> 00:04:04.039 State Legislature, which had just seen an influx 00:04:04.039 --> 00:04:06.639 of newly enfranchised black voters elected. Republican 00:04:06.639 --> 00:04:09.680 representatives, chose Revels to fill a Senate 00:04:09.680 --> 00:04:11.740 seat. And this was a seat that had been left 00:04:11.740 --> 00:04:14.219 vacant during the Civil War. Oh, this detail 00:04:14.219 --> 00:04:17.300 is fascinating. He was tapped to succeed Albert 00:04:17.300 --> 00:04:21.399 G. Brown. Right. Yes, a politician who had vacated 00:04:21.399 --> 00:04:23.699 the seat when Mississippi seceded from the Union. 00:04:23.939 --> 00:04:27.040 I mean, the poetic justice there is. A black 00:04:27.040 --> 00:04:29.480 man taking a seat abandoned by a supporter of 00:04:29.480 --> 00:04:32.639 the Confederacy. it is hard to overstate how 00:04:32.639 --> 00:04:35.339 significant that was. It was incredibly symbolic. 00:04:35.720 --> 00:04:38.120 But when Rebels arrived in Washington to take 00:04:38.120 --> 00:04:40.959 the oath of office, he hit a wall. What was the 00:04:40.959 --> 00:04:43.420 actual argument used by his opponents to try 00:04:43.420 --> 00:04:45.439 and keep him out? Yeah. Because they couldn't 00:04:45.439 --> 00:04:47.279 just say they didn't want him there. No, they 00:04:47.279 --> 00:04:49.939 needed a legal pretext. Several Democratic members 00:04:49.939 --> 00:04:52.639 of the Senate launched a fierce opposition campaign 00:04:52.639 --> 00:04:55.899 using a highly technical yet deeply rooted legal 00:04:55.899 --> 00:04:59.699 argument. They cited the infamous 1857 Supreme 00:04:59.699 --> 00:05:02.959 Court decision Dred Scott v. Sanford. Wow. The 00:05:02.959 --> 00:05:05.399 Dred Scott decision. Yes. The Dred Scott ruling 00:05:05.399 --> 00:05:07.660 had declared that black people, whether enslaved 00:05:07.660 --> 00:05:09.740 or free, could not be considered American citizens. 00:05:10.060 --> 00:05:12.199 Okay. And the constitutional requirement to be 00:05:12.199 --> 00:05:13.959 a senator is that you must have been a U .S. 00:05:13.959 --> 00:05:16.360 citizen for at least nine years. Oh, I see where 00:05:16.360 --> 00:05:19.240 this is going. Right. His opponents argued that 00:05:19.240 --> 00:05:21.500 because of the Dred Scott decision, Rebels had 00:05:21.500 --> 00:05:23.860 only legally been a citizen since the passage 00:05:23.860 --> 00:05:27.360 of the 1866 Civil Rights Act, or the 14th Amendment 00:05:27.360 --> 00:05:30.519 in 1868, meaning he fell short of the nine -year 00:05:30.519 --> 00:05:34.290 rule. That is wild. They were actively using 00:05:34.290 --> 00:05:38.540 a pre -Civil War pro -slavery Supreme Court ruling 00:05:38.540 --> 00:05:41.579 to block integration in 1870. They absolutely 00:05:41.579 --> 00:05:43.899 were. How did the chamber ultimately resolve 00:05:43.899 --> 00:05:46.740 that standoff? It was a complete spectacle. The 00:05:46.740 --> 00:05:48.839 Senate galleries were packed to capacity with 00:05:48.839 --> 00:05:50.680 onlookers waiting to see how the chamber would 00:05:50.680 --> 00:05:53.339 vote. Supporters of Revels, like Senator Charles 00:05:53.339 --> 00:05:56.339 Sumner of Massachusetts, argued fiercely that 00:05:56.339 --> 00:05:58.360 the Civil War and the subsequent constitutional 00:05:58.360 --> 00:06:01.579 amendments had fundamentally nullified the Dred 00:06:01.579 --> 00:06:03.600 Scott decision. Nullified the whole underlying 00:06:03.600 --> 00:06:06.139 logic? Exactly. And ultimately, The majority 00:06:06.139 --> 00:06:08.319 of the Senate voted to seat him. Revels took 00:06:08.319 --> 00:06:10.279 his oath and served for a little over a year. 00:06:10.360 --> 00:06:11.920 And that momentum really seemed to be building 00:06:11.920 --> 00:06:13.899 because, well, just a couple of years later, 00:06:13.939 --> 00:06:17.480 in 1872, another African -American man, PBS Pinchback, 00:06:17.740 --> 00:06:19.899 was elected to the Senate by the Louisiana state 00:06:19.899 --> 00:06:21.639 legislature. Yeah, it was Pinchback. But his 00:06:21.639 --> 00:06:24.709 outcome was entirely different. It was. Pinchback's 00:06:24.709 --> 00:06:27.029 situation really demonstrates how fragile these 00:06:27.029 --> 00:06:29.689 early victories were. His election was aggressively 00:06:29.689 --> 00:06:32.449 challenged by white Democrats in Louisiana who 00:06:32.449 --> 00:06:34.930 contested the legitimacy of the state legislature's 00:06:34.930 --> 00:06:36.850 vote. They just refused to accept it. Right. 00:06:37.050 --> 00:06:39.430 The dispute over his credentialing dragged on 00:06:39.430 --> 00:06:41.990 for years in Washington. And ultimately, the 00:06:41.990 --> 00:06:44.930 Senate voted to deny Pinchback his seat. He never 00:06:44.930 --> 00:06:47.740 officially served. That is such a harsh reminder 00:06:47.740 --> 00:06:50.120 to keep in mind. Similarly, winning the vote 00:06:50.120 --> 00:06:52.060 at the state level wasn't a guarantee of holding 00:06:52.060 --> 00:06:55.259 power. Not at all. But we do see one more major 00:06:55.259 --> 00:06:59.339 breakthrough in this early era. In 1875, Blanche 00:06:59.339 --> 00:07:01.819 Bruce is elected by the Mississippi State Legislature. 00:07:01.819 --> 00:07:03.680 That's right. And he becomes the first African 00:07:03.680 --> 00:07:06.220 -American senator to serve a full six -year term. 00:07:06.990 --> 00:07:10.750 Plus, there is an incredibly profound biographical 00:07:10.750 --> 00:07:13.649 detail about Bruce. Yes. Out of all the thousands 00:07:13.649 --> 00:07:15.850 of people who have ever served in the U .S. Senate, 00:07:16.149 --> 00:07:18.569 Blanche Bruce remains the only senator in United 00:07:18.569 --> 00:07:21.470 States history to have been a former slave. Just 00:07:21.470 --> 00:07:24.110 think about that. Going from being legally classified 00:07:24.110 --> 00:07:28.009 as property to serving a full term in the highest 00:07:28.009 --> 00:07:30.850 legislative body in the country within a single 00:07:30.850 --> 00:07:33.800 lifetime. It highlights the accelerated, almost 00:07:33.800 --> 00:07:36.759 dizzying pace of change during Reconstruction. 00:07:37.019 --> 00:07:39.779 During his tenure, he advocated for the civil 00:07:39.779 --> 00:07:42.220 rights of African -Americans, Native Americans, 00:07:42.399 --> 00:07:44.750 Chinese immigrants. He's a true pioneer. He was. 00:07:44.970 --> 00:07:47.529 But unfortunately, the structural forces of the 00:07:47.529 --> 00:07:50.410 era were working against that momentum because 00:07:50.410 --> 00:07:53.589 after Bruce left office in 1881, the representation 00:07:53.589 --> 00:07:57.009 simply vanishes. Yeah, the great gap. Mississippi 00:07:57.009 --> 00:07:59.110 had sent the first two black senators to Washington 00:07:59.110 --> 00:08:01.529 and then the door just slams shut. Completely 00:08:01.529 --> 00:08:04.269 shut. We enter this massive decades long gap. 00:08:04.529 --> 00:08:07.110 What were the specific political mechanisms that 00:08:07.110 --> 00:08:09.689 caused black representation to drop to zero for 00:08:09.689 --> 00:08:12.100 nearly a century? If we connect this to the bigger 00:08:12.100 --> 00:08:15.040 picture, we have to look at the systematic dismantling 00:08:15.040 --> 00:08:17.819 of Reconstruction in the South. Right. In 1876, 00:08:18.160 --> 00:08:20.060 federal troops were withdrawn from the South 00:08:20.060 --> 00:08:22.459 and the political tide rapidly turned back toward 00:08:22.459 --> 00:08:25.839 white supremacy. State by state, Democratic -dominated 00:08:25.839 --> 00:08:28.220 legislatures began passing new constitutions. 00:08:28.379 --> 00:08:31.819 And these were specifically engineered to disenfranchise 00:08:31.819 --> 00:08:34.220 black voters. Exactly. They were bypassing the 00:08:34.220 --> 00:08:36.539 15th Amendment through technicalities. These 00:08:36.539 --> 00:08:39.220 were the mechanisms of the Jim Crow era. Precisely. 00:08:39.259 --> 00:08:41.559 Starting heavily with the Mississippi Plan of 00:08:41.559 --> 00:08:45.159 1890, states instituted poll taxes requiring 00:08:45.159 --> 00:08:48.509 people to pay a fee to vote. They implemented 00:08:48.509 --> 00:08:51.549 notoriously subjective literacy tests, where 00:08:51.549 --> 00:08:54.370 white registrars could pass or fail anyone at 00:08:54.370 --> 00:08:56.450 their discretion. Just entirely arbitrary. And 00:08:56.450 --> 00:08:59.330 they used grandfather clauses, which stated you 00:08:59.330 --> 00:09:01.450 could only vote if your grandfather had the right 00:09:01.450 --> 00:09:03.809 to vote prior to the Civil War. Which naturally 00:09:03.809 --> 00:09:06.110 excluded all descendants of enslaved people. 00:09:06.350 --> 00:09:10.179 Exactly. By 1908, every single former Confederate 00:09:10.179 --> 00:09:12.860 state had adopted similar measures. And remember, 00:09:13.000 --> 00:09:15.000 because state legislatures were still the bodies 00:09:15.000 --> 00:09:17.840 choosing U .S. senators and black citizens were 00:09:17.840 --> 00:09:20.120 entirely removed from the state voting process. 00:09:20.360 --> 00:09:22.539 Black representation in the Senate was structurally 00:09:22.539 --> 00:09:25.840 impossible in the South. It was. This total exclusion 00:09:25.840 --> 00:09:28.000 persisted until the Civil Rights Movement and 00:09:28.000 --> 00:09:29.700 the enforcement power of the Voting Rights Act 00:09:29.700 --> 00:09:32.610 of 1965. So with the South completely locked 00:09:32.610 --> 00:09:35.330 down by these state constitutions, the fight 00:09:35.330 --> 00:09:38.029 for representation essentially had to shift geographically. 00:09:38.070 --> 00:09:41.110 It did. And that geographic shift brings us to 00:09:41.110 --> 00:09:44.529 Massachusetts in the late 1960s. I really want 00:09:44.529 --> 00:09:46.889 you to think about the timeline here. From Blanche 00:09:46.889 --> 00:09:50.669 Bruce leaving in 1881 until 1967, there is not 00:09:50.669 --> 00:09:52.909 a single African -American voice in the United 00:09:52.909 --> 00:09:55.690 States Senate. A massive gap. Almost 90 years. 00:09:55.850 --> 00:09:58.750 Then Edward Brooke, a Republican, arrives in 00:09:58.750 --> 00:10:01.350 Washington. Edward Brooke's election is a huge 00:10:01.350 --> 00:10:03.909 milestone because the rules of the game had fundamentally 00:10:03.909 --> 00:10:06.389 changed. As we noted earlier, the 17th Amendment 00:10:06.389 --> 00:10:09.370 was ratified in 1913. Right. And that transferred 00:10:09.370 --> 00:10:12.429 the power to elect senators from state legislatures 00:10:12.429 --> 00:10:15.230 directly to the voting public. So when Edward 00:10:15.230 --> 00:10:18.169 Brooke won his election in 1966 and took office 00:10:18.169 --> 00:10:20.990 in 1967, he became the very first African -American 00:10:20.990 --> 00:10:23.409 elected to the Senate by direct popular vote. 00:10:23.570 --> 00:10:25.950 But how was a black Republican able to build 00:10:25.950 --> 00:10:28.429 a winning coalition in a majority white state 00:10:28.429 --> 00:10:30.450 like Massachusetts? During the height of the 00:10:30.450 --> 00:10:32.669 civil rights era, that seems so counterintuitive. 00:10:32.850 --> 00:10:35.429 Brooke was a uniquely compelling political figure. 00:10:35.649 --> 00:10:38.269 He had already built a strong statewide profile 00:10:38.269 --> 00:10:40.450 serving as the attorney general of Massachusetts. 00:10:41.049 --> 00:10:43.590 He gained a reputation for fighting corruption 00:10:43.590 --> 00:10:46.509 and organized crime. So he had that law and order 00:10:46.509 --> 00:10:49.409 appear. Yes. He positioned himself as a moderate, 00:10:49.570 --> 00:10:52.090 appealing to both white suburban voters and minority 00:10:52.090 --> 00:10:56.159 communities. He built a cross -party, cross -racial 00:10:56.159 --> 00:10:58.039 coalition, which is exactly what a candidate 00:10:58.039 --> 00:11:00.559 needs to win a statewide popular election. And 00:11:00.559 --> 00:11:03.059 he was reelected, right? He was. He served two 00:11:03.059 --> 00:11:05.799 full terms, proving that an African -American 00:11:05.799 --> 00:11:07.980 candidate could succeed on a statewide ballot 00:11:07.980 --> 00:11:10.419 in the modern era. But even with Brooks' success 00:11:10.419 --> 00:11:12.720 proving it was possible, the Senate reverted 00:11:12.720 --> 00:11:15.120 back to having zero black members for another 00:11:15.120 --> 00:11:18.799 14 years after he left office in 1979. Here's 00:11:18.799 --> 00:11:21.419 where it gets really interesting. The next major 00:11:21.419 --> 00:11:23.899 wave of breakthroughs doesn't happen evenly across 00:11:23.899 --> 00:11:27.139 the country. It centers on one specific geographic 00:11:27.139 --> 00:11:30.379 anomaly. Illinois. Yes, Illinois. And to be even 00:11:30.379 --> 00:11:33.200 more precise, it centers on Illinois' Class 3 00:11:33.200 --> 00:11:35.419 Senate seat. Now, for those who might not know 00:11:35.419 --> 00:11:38.059 exactly how the Senate seating works, what is 00:11:38.059 --> 00:11:40.500 a Class 3 seat? The United States Constitution 00:11:40.500 --> 00:11:43.500 divides the 100 Senate seats into three classes. 00:11:44.169 --> 00:11:46.509 This staggered system ensures that only about 00:11:46.509 --> 00:11:48.809 one third of the Senate is up for reelection 00:11:48.809 --> 00:11:52.389 every two years. To prevent the entire chamber 00:11:52.389 --> 00:11:55.009 from turning over in a single election cycle. 00:11:55.250 --> 00:11:58.649 Exactly. Every state has two senators and they 00:11:58.649 --> 00:12:01.259 are always in different classes. In Illinois, 00:12:01.519 --> 00:12:03.899 their class three seat became this incredible 00:12:03.899 --> 00:12:06.600 engine for historical milestones starting in 00:12:06.600 --> 00:12:09.120 the 1990s. And the first of those milestones 00:12:09.120 --> 00:12:12.179 belongs to Carol Moseley Braun. Yes. When she 00:12:12.179 --> 00:12:14.419 won her election and entered the Senate in 1993, 00:12:14.899 --> 00:12:18.440 she shattered a massive glass ceiling. She became 00:12:18.440 --> 00:12:20.559 the very first African -American woman to ever 00:12:20.559 --> 00:12:22.639 serve in the United States Senate and also the 00:12:22.639 --> 00:12:24.399 first African -American Democrat in the chamber. 00:12:24.830 --> 00:12:27.629 Her campaign was a grassroots phenomenon. She 00:12:27.629 --> 00:12:30.129 was an underdog who challenged an incumbent senator 00:12:30.129 --> 00:12:32.830 in the Democratic primary and won. She was driven 00:12:32.830 --> 00:12:34.970 by a surge of support from women and minority 00:12:34.970 --> 00:12:37.629 voters in Chicago and across the state. She served 00:12:37.629 --> 00:12:40.509 one term, but the legacy of that specific class 00:12:40.509 --> 00:12:42.590 three seat was just beginning. It really was. 00:12:42.850 --> 00:12:46.230 Because a few years later, in 2004, a relatively 00:12:46.230 --> 00:12:49.730 unknown state senator named Barack Obama. won 00:12:49.730 --> 00:12:52.690 the election for that exact same Illinois seat. 00:12:52.830 --> 00:12:55.570 And we all know where his trajectory led in 2008. 00:12:55.789 --> 00:12:58.090 He makes history as the first African -American 00:12:58.090 --> 00:13:00.210 senator to be elected president of the United 00:13:00.210 --> 00:13:03.049 States. And his elevation to the presidency creates 00:13:03.049 --> 00:13:06.259 a vacancy. In the Senate. Right. And that vacancy 00:13:06.259 --> 00:13:09.600 creates a unique domino effect. Under Illinois 00:13:09.600 --> 00:13:11.980 law, the governor has the power to appoint a 00:13:11.980 --> 00:13:14.360 temporary replacement when a Senate seat becomes 00:13:14.360 --> 00:13:17.179 vacant. So the governor appointed Roland Burrus. 00:13:17.340 --> 00:13:19.559 An African -American politician who had previously 00:13:19.559 --> 00:13:21.879 served as the state's attorney general. Yes. 00:13:22.399 --> 00:13:24.940 By taking over Obama's seat, Burris became the 00:13:24.940 --> 00:13:27.480 first African -American in history to succeed 00:13:27.480 --> 00:13:29.820 another African -American in the Senate. It's 00:13:29.820 --> 00:13:31.940 just an incredible trio holding that one seat. 00:13:32.059 --> 00:13:35.149 Braun, Obama and Burris. The demographics of 00:13:35.149 --> 00:13:37.149 Illinois, particularly the heavy concentration 00:13:37.149 --> 00:13:39.690 of black voters in Chicago resulting from the 00:13:39.690 --> 00:13:42.149 Great Migration, created a political environment 00:13:42.149 --> 00:13:44.470 where a black candidate could build a formidable 00:13:44.470 --> 00:13:47.049 statewide base. Right. But I want you to imagine 00:13:47.049 --> 00:13:50.330 looking at a map of the United States outlining 00:13:50.330 --> 00:13:52.990 black representation in the Senate during the 00:13:52.990 --> 00:13:56.269 entire late 20th century up through about 2010. 00:13:57.190 --> 00:14:00.110 The map is almost entirely blank. Just completely 00:14:00.110 --> 00:14:02.309 empty space for most of the country. You have 00:14:02.309 --> 00:14:04.919 an isolated pocket in Massachusetts. and an isolated 00:14:04.919 --> 00:14:07.379 pocket in Illinois. The rest of the country has 00:14:07.379 --> 00:14:09.740 no representation on this list. That geographic 00:14:09.740 --> 00:14:12.539 isolation really drives home how concentrated 00:14:12.539 --> 00:14:14.799 these political breakthroughs were. It was not 00:14:14.799 --> 00:14:17.860 a nationwide wave of integration. And when Roland 00:14:17.860 --> 00:14:20.360 Burris finished his brief appointed term in 2010, 00:14:20.700 --> 00:14:23.100 the Senate actually went back to having zero 00:14:23.100 --> 00:14:25.799 black members for the next two years. Unbelievable. 00:14:26.379 --> 00:14:30.480 But then we reach 2013. And the dam finally breaks. 00:14:30.620 --> 00:14:32.879 It does. What shifted in the political landscape 00:14:32.879 --> 00:14:36.059 to allow so many new voices to enter the chamber 00:14:36.059 --> 00:14:38.600 in such a short window. What's fascinating here 00:14:38.600 --> 00:14:40.960 is that the initial surge in 2013 was actually 00:14:40.960 --> 00:14:43.419 driven by the appointment process rather than 00:14:43.419 --> 00:14:45.500 the general election cycle. Oh, really? Yes. 00:14:45.519 --> 00:14:47.980 In South Carolina, Republican Senator Jim DeMint 00:14:47.980 --> 00:14:50.720 resigned and Governor Nikki Haley appointed Congressman 00:14:50.720 --> 00:14:54.330 Tim Scott. to fill the vacancy. Then up in Massachusetts, 00:14:54.730 --> 00:14:56.929 Senator John Kerry resigned to become secretary 00:14:56.929 --> 00:14:59.490 of state and Governor Deval Patrick appointed 00:14:59.490 --> 00:15:02.649 Mo Cowan, a Democrat, to fill that seat temporarily. 00:15:03.420 --> 00:15:05.600 Because both of these appointments happen early 00:15:05.600 --> 00:15:08.279 in the year, 2013 marked the very first time 00:15:08.279 --> 00:15:11.019 in United States history that two African -Americans 00:15:11.019 --> 00:15:13.279 served in the Senate simultaneously. That is 00:15:13.279 --> 00:15:16.039 a massive turning point. And there is also a 00:15:16.039 --> 00:15:18.179 notable piece of history regarding Mo Cowan's 00:15:18.179 --> 00:15:20.679 appointment specifically. Governor Deval Patrick 00:15:20.679 --> 00:15:23.279 was Massachusetts' first black governor. Right. 00:15:23.379 --> 00:15:25.860 That made Cowan the first black senator ever 00:15:25.860 --> 00:15:28.059 appointed by a black governor. It's a great detail. 00:15:28.750 --> 00:15:31.330 Cowan's tenure was brief, serving only until 00:15:31.330 --> 00:15:33.850 a special election could be held. But the overall 00:15:33.850 --> 00:15:36.549 momentum was undeniably shifting. Later that 00:15:36.549 --> 00:15:39.690 same year, in late 2013, Cory Booker, the Democratic 00:15:39.690 --> 00:15:42.509 mayor of Newark, New Jersey, won a special election 00:15:42.509 --> 00:15:44.889 to the Senate. He became the first black senator 00:15:44.889 --> 00:15:48.059 elected since Obama. Yes. And the pace of these 00:15:48.059 --> 00:15:50.620 milestones accelerates drastically from this 00:15:50.620 --> 00:15:52.659 point forward. We completely stop seeing those 00:15:52.659 --> 00:15:57.039 echoing decades long gaps. In 2017, Kamala Harris 00:15:57.039 --> 00:15:59.019 arrives in the Senate representing California. 00:15:59.100 --> 00:16:01.679 She becomes only the second black woman in the 00:16:01.679 --> 00:16:04.460 chamber's history. But she also brings a new 00:16:04.460 --> 00:16:07.000 intersectional milestone, becoming the first 00:16:07.000 --> 00:16:10.179 Indian American senator. as her mother emigrated 00:16:10.179 --> 00:16:12.419 from India and her father from Jamaica. And of 00:16:12.419 --> 00:16:14.559 course, she eventually leaves the Senate in 2021 00:16:14.559 --> 00:16:17.039 to become the first female and first African 00:16:17.039 --> 00:16:19.019 -American vice president of the United States. 00:16:19.360 --> 00:16:21.679 Exactly. So during this contemporary period, 00:16:21.840 --> 00:16:23.820 we really start to see things open up. We do. 00:16:23.940 --> 00:16:26.700 We see the archetype of who a black senator is 00:16:26.700 --> 00:16:29.529 and where they can win. begin to diversify rapidly. 00:16:29.789 --> 00:16:31.929 Breaking those geographic barriers. Exactly. 00:16:32.149 --> 00:16:34.730 For decades, the successful path seemed limited 00:16:34.730 --> 00:16:37.950 to Northeastern or Midwestern states with strong 00:16:37.950 --> 00:16:40.590 Democratic strongholds. But you have Tim Scott 00:16:40.590 --> 00:16:43.049 building a successful conservative coalition 00:16:43.049 --> 00:16:46.769 in South Carolina. And then in 2021, Raphael 00:16:46.769 --> 00:16:50.309 Warnock, a Democratic pastor, wins a highly contested 00:16:50.309 --> 00:16:52.470 election in Georgia. Warnock becomes the very 00:16:52.470 --> 00:16:54.870 first black Democrat to represent a former Confederate 00:16:54.870 --> 00:16:57.549 state in the Senate. Yes. When you recall the 00:16:57.549 --> 00:17:00.169 sweeping systemic disenfranchisement we discussed 00:17:00.169 --> 00:17:03.629 from the 1890s, Warnock's victory in a deep South 00:17:03.629 --> 00:17:06.269 state represents a profound historical closure 00:17:06.269 --> 00:17:09.390 to that era. A full circle moment. And the representation 00:17:09.390 --> 00:17:12.069 continues to broaden across demographics as well. 00:17:12.230 --> 00:17:15.089 In 2023, following the death of Dianne Feinstein, 00:17:15.470 --> 00:17:17.950 LaFonza Butler was appointed to represent California. 00:17:18.289 --> 00:17:21.309 Making her the first openly LGBT African -American 00:17:21.309 --> 00:17:23.950 senator. Which brings us to the current landscape. 00:17:24.210 --> 00:17:27.329 As of 2025, we are witnessing a high watermark 00:17:27.329 --> 00:17:31.269 for representation. There are a record five black 00:17:31.269 --> 00:17:33.619 senators serving at the exact same time. Looking 00:17:33.619 --> 00:17:36.140 at the 2025 roster gives you a clear picture 00:17:36.140 --> 00:17:38.519 of how much the map has expanded. You have Tim 00:17:38.519 --> 00:17:41.259 Scott in South Carolina, Cory Booker in New Jersey, 00:17:41.420 --> 00:17:44.200 and Raphael Warnock in Georgia. Joining them 00:17:44.200 --> 00:17:47.079 are two newly elected senators, Lisa Blunt Rochester 00:17:47.079 --> 00:17:49.559 representing Delaware and Angela also Brooks 00:17:49.559 --> 00:17:52.440 representing Maryland. And within that 2025 landscape, 00:17:52.740 --> 00:17:54.940 there are two major historic firsts occurring 00:17:54.940 --> 00:17:57.450 right now. First, with the arrivals of also Brooks 00:17:57.450 --> 00:17:59.390 and Blunt Rochester, we are seeing the first 00:17:59.390 --> 00:18:01.650 instance in American history where two black 00:18:01.650 --> 00:18:03.710 women are serving together in the Senate simultaneously. 00:18:03.710 --> 00:18:07.549 A huge milestone. And second, Tim Scott has reached 00:18:07.549 --> 00:18:10.849 a major tenure milestone. He is now the longest 00:18:10.849 --> 00:18:14.130 serving black senator in U .S. history. Furthermore, 00:18:14.410 --> 00:18:16.309 his seniority has allowed him to break another 00:18:16.309 --> 00:18:19.170 barrier, becoming the first black senator to 00:18:19.170 --> 00:18:22.460 chair a full committee. Specifically taking the 00:18:22.460 --> 00:18:24.319 helm of the powerful Senate Banking Committee. 00:18:24.480 --> 00:18:27.640 Right. And that ability to accrue enough seniority 00:18:27.640 --> 00:18:30.619 to chair a major committee is a crucial indicator 00:18:30.619 --> 00:18:33.160 of normalized political power. Because it's not 00:18:33.160 --> 00:18:34.779 just about getting in the room anymore. Exactly. 00:18:34.779 --> 00:18:37.119 It shows that these senators are not just arriving 00:18:37.119 --> 00:18:39.660 in Washington. They are holding their seats long 00:18:39.660 --> 00:18:42.099 enough to influence the core machinery of the 00:18:42.099 --> 00:18:44.519 legislative process. We have covered a tremendous 00:18:44.519 --> 00:18:46.460 amount of ground here and touched on various 00:18:46.460 --> 00:18:49.549 paths to power. Let's break down the actual math 00:18:49.549 --> 00:18:51.990 of how these 14 individuals reached the Senate. 00:18:52.250 --> 00:18:55.130 So of the 14 total African -American senators 00:18:55.130 --> 00:18:58.069 in U .S. history, nine of them were popularly 00:18:58.069 --> 00:19:00.250 elected by the voters of their respective states. 00:19:00.569 --> 00:19:02.930 Two of them, Hiram Rhodes Revels and Blanche 00:19:02.930 --> 00:19:05.430 Bruce, were chosen by state legislatures back 00:19:05.430 --> 00:19:08.589 in the 1870s before the 17th Amendment changed 00:19:08.589 --> 00:19:10.710 the election process. And three were appointed. 00:19:10.950 --> 00:19:13.480 Right. Three of them were appointed by state 00:19:13.480 --> 00:19:16.240 governors to fill unexpected vacancies and were 00:19:16.240 --> 00:19:19.019 never subsequently elected to those seats. That's 00:19:19.019 --> 00:19:21.460 Roland Burris in Illinois, Mo Cowan in Massachusetts, 00:19:21.819 --> 00:19:24.480 and LaFonza Butler in California. Looking at 00:19:24.480 --> 00:19:26.619 the modern elections themselves, there is a relatively 00:19:26.619 --> 00:19:29.380 new phenomenon emerging. We are starting to see 00:19:29.380 --> 00:19:31.960 more head -to -head races where both major party 00:19:31.960 --> 00:19:34.579 nominees for a Senate seat are African -American. 00:19:34.680 --> 00:19:36.700 Yes, the first time that dynamic occurred was 00:19:36.700 --> 00:19:40.119 in the 2004 Illinois race when Democrat Barack 00:19:40.119 --> 00:19:43.559 Obama ran against Republican Alan Keyes. And 00:19:43.559 --> 00:19:46.200 we have seen it happen several times since. Mostly 00:19:46.200 --> 00:19:48.700 in the South, interestingly. Yes. In South Carolina, 00:19:48.859 --> 00:19:50.799 Tim Scott faced black Democratic challengers 00:19:50.799 --> 00:19:55.339 in 2014, 2016 and 2022. And in the highly publicized 00:19:55.339 --> 00:19:58.980 2022 Georgia race, Democrat Raphael Warnock ran 00:19:58.980 --> 00:20:01.259 against Republican Herschel Walker. It's becoming 00:20:01.259 --> 00:20:03.640 slightly more common. The fact that both major 00:20:03.640 --> 00:20:06.019 parties are simultaneously elevating black candidates 00:20:06.019 --> 00:20:08.279 to the top of the ticket in statewide races indicates 00:20:08.279 --> 00:20:10.799 a significant maturation of the political landscape. 00:20:11.039 --> 00:20:14.440 Yet, despite these recent surges and a normalization 00:20:14.440 --> 00:20:18.480 of these campaigns, a stark reality remains when 00:20:18.480 --> 00:20:20.119 you look at the geographic footprint of this 00:20:20.119 --> 00:20:24.440 list. Out of all 50 states in the union. Only 00:20:24.440 --> 00:20:27.420 nine have ever sent a black senator to Washington. 00:20:27.640 --> 00:20:29.640 Only nine. Those states are California, Delaware, 00:20:29.819 --> 00:20:32.380 Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, 00:20:32.599 --> 00:20:34.960 New Jersey and South Carolina. This raises an 00:20:34.960 --> 00:20:38.079 important question. What does this slow, highly 00:20:38.079 --> 00:20:41.180 concentrated pace of integration reveal about 00:20:41.180 --> 00:20:43.180 the fundamental structure of the Senate? It's 00:20:43.180 --> 00:20:45.059 a very different game than the House. Exactly. 00:20:45.400 --> 00:20:48.240 By design, the Senate represents entire states, 00:20:48.440 --> 00:20:50.019 whereas the House of Representatives represents 00:20:50.019 --> 00:20:53.430 smaller, localized congressional districts. It 00:20:53.430 --> 00:20:55.869 is historically much easier to elect a diverse 00:20:55.869 --> 00:20:58.329 candidate in a heavily concentrated district. 00:20:58.430 --> 00:21:00.710 Right. To win a Senate seat, a candidate must 00:21:00.710 --> 00:21:03.690 build a massive statewide coalition that crosses 00:21:03.690 --> 00:21:06.789 racial, geographic, and often party lines. Which 00:21:06.789 --> 00:21:08.970 takes incredible resources and broad appeal. 00:21:09.500 --> 00:21:12.859 Yes. The fact that it has taken so long for black 00:21:12.859 --> 00:21:15.500 candidates to successfully build those coalitions 00:21:15.500 --> 00:21:17.940 in more than just a handful of states highlights 00:21:17.940 --> 00:21:20.539 the deeply entrenched political and demographic 00:21:20.539 --> 00:21:23.519 hurdles that exist on a statewide level. Hurdles 00:21:23.519 --> 00:21:25.339 which often look very different than the general 00:21:25.339 --> 00:21:28.140 population of the country as a whole. So what 00:21:28.140 --> 00:21:30.460 does this all mean when you step back and view 00:21:30.460 --> 00:21:33.730 this 150 year arc? It is a breathtaking narrative 00:21:33.730 --> 00:21:36.450 of American power. It begins with Hiram Rhodes 00:21:36.450 --> 00:21:39.670 Revels in 1870, facing down politicians who literally 00:21:39.670 --> 00:21:42.289 tried to use the Dred Scott decision to deny 00:21:42.289 --> 00:21:44.509 his citizenship. Right. It moves through the 00:21:44.509 --> 00:21:46.990 agonizing decades of the Jim Crow era where the 00:21:46.990 --> 00:21:49.049 legislative door was structurally bolted shut. 00:21:49.289 --> 00:21:51.710 It highlights the isolated, brilliant political 00:21:51.710 --> 00:21:54.569 maneuvering in Massachusetts and Illinois. And 00:21:54.569 --> 00:21:57.089 it arrives at 2025 where five African -American 00:21:57.089 --> 00:21:59.279 senators are sitting in the chamber. chairing 00:21:59.279 --> 00:22:01.700 committees and driving national policy. It really 00:22:01.700 --> 00:22:03.900 is a sweeping history. It serves as a potent 00:22:03.900 --> 00:22:06.200 reminder to you that political history is rarely 00:22:06.200 --> 00:22:09.480 a steady, predictable incline. It is forged through 00:22:09.480 --> 00:22:12.400 sudden bursts of momentum, long periods of quiet 00:22:12.400 --> 00:22:15.240 resistance and the tireless building of new coalitions. 00:22:15.690 --> 00:22:18.670 That captures the journey perfectly. But before 00:22:18.670 --> 00:22:20.630 we wrap up, I want to leave you with a final 00:22:20.630 --> 00:22:22.890 thought to mull over. Returning to one of the 00:22:22.890 --> 00:22:25.250 biggest structural shifts we discussed today. 00:22:25.410 --> 00:22:28.210 OK. We talked about the 17th Amendment of 1913, 00:22:28.430 --> 00:22:30.970 which transferred the power of electing senators 00:22:30.970 --> 00:22:33.549 from state legislatures to the direct popular 00:22:33.549 --> 00:22:36.630 vote. It was intended to reduce corruption and 00:22:36.630 --> 00:22:39.359 give power back to the people. Right. But consider 00:22:39.359 --> 00:22:42.279 the current political climate. Given the intense 00:22:42.279 --> 00:22:44.900 partisan battles, the stark polarization and 00:22:44.900 --> 00:22:47.700 the highly debated district mapping we see in 00:22:47.700 --> 00:22:49.599 modern state legislatures across the country 00:22:49.599 --> 00:22:52.660 today. What if the 17th Amendment had never been 00:22:52.660 --> 00:22:55.460 passed? Oh, wow. If our state legislatures were 00:22:55.460 --> 00:22:57.579 still the bodies retreating behind closed doors 00:22:57.579 --> 00:23:00.220 to handpick our U .S. senators right now, would 00:23:00.220 --> 00:23:02.160 the number of African -American senators today 00:23:02.160 --> 00:23:05.150 be higher or would it be lower? I encourage you 00:23:05.150 --> 00:23:07.390 to ponder how the seemingly mundane mechanical 00:23:07.390 --> 00:23:10.430 rules of how we vote fundamentally shape the 00:23:10.430 --> 00:23:13.089 human face of our government. That is an incredible 00:23:13.089 --> 00:23:15.589 alternate history to think about. And it really 00:23:15.589 --> 00:23:17.789 forces you to look at the machinery of our elections 00:23:17.789 --> 00:23:20.710 in a completely different light. Thank you for 00:23:20.710 --> 00:23:23.710 joining us as we explore the rich, complex history 00:23:23.710 --> 00:23:26.210 of African -American representation in the United 00:23:26.210 --> 00:23:28.630 States Senate. We hope you gain some surprising 00:23:28.630 --> 00:23:31.130 insights and a deeper understanding of how this 00:23:31.130 --> 00:23:34.119 institution has evolved. Until next time. Keep 00:23:34.119 --> 00:23:34.740 diving deep.