The following is a list of African-American holders of public office from 1900 to 1959. This period saw setbacks for African Americans following the Reconstruction era after "Redeemer" Democrats retook control of the South and restored white supremacy in government. African-Americans were largely barred from voting and almost entirely obstructed from public office in former Confederate states under the Jim Crow regime. The number of African American officeholders would dramatically increase following the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Notably, Minnie Buckingham Harper became the first African-American woman to serve in a state legislature when she was appointed in 1928 to serve out the remainder of her husband's term in the West Virginia House of Delegates. Crystal Bird Fauset was the first Black woman elected to a legislature when was elected to the Pennsylvania House in 1938.
Federal office
House of Representatives
Oscar Stanton De Priest (1929-1953) Arthur Wergs Mitchell (1935-1943) William L. Dawson (1943-1970) Adam Clayton Powell Jr. (1945-1971) Charles Diggs (1955-1980) Robert N. C. Nix Sr. (1958-1979)
State office
Alaska
House
Blanche McSmith (1959)
California
Assembly
Frederick Madison Roberts (1918) Augustus Hawkins (1934-1960)
Colorado
Senate
George L. Brown (1957)
House
George L. Brown (1955)
Connecticut
House
Wilfred X. Johnson (1958), the Wilfred X. Johnson House where he lived is listed on the National Register of Historic Places
Delaware
House
William J. Winchester (1948)
Georgia
House
H. F. McKay, state representative from Liberty County (1900-1901) Lectured Crawford, state representative from McIntosh County (1886-1887, 1890–1891, 1900–1901) W. H. Rogers, state representative from McIntosh County (1902-1908) Amos Rogers Hercules Wilson Anthony Wilson, state representative from Camden County, Georgia (1884-1888?) Frasier, first name unknown, state representative from Liberty County, Georgia Samuel A. McIvor, state representative for Liberty County, Georgia
Illinois
Senate
Adelbert H. Roberts (1924) William E. King (1934) William A. Wallace (1938) Christopher C. Wimbish (1942) Fred J. Smith (1954)
House
John G. Jones (1900) Edward D. Green (1904) Alexander Lane (1907) Robert R. Jackson (1912) Sheadrick B. Turner (1914) Benjamin H. Lucas (1916) Warren B. Douglass (1918) George T. Kersey (1922) Charles A. Griffin (1924) William J. Warfield (1928) Charles J. Jenkins (1930) Harris B. Gaines (1930) Aubrey H. Smith (1934) Ernest A. Greene (1936) Richard A. Harewood (1936) Andrew A. Torrence (1938) Dudley S. Martin (1940) Corneal A. Davis (1943) Christopher C. Wimbish (1943) Charles T. Sykes (1944) Edward A. Welters (1944) Kenneth E. Wilson (1954) William H. Robinson (1954) J. Horace Gardner (1956) Elwood Graham (1956) Floy Clements (1958) Cecil A. Partee (1957) Charles F. Armstrong (1957)
Indiana
Senate
Robert Brokenburr (1940)
House
Harry H. Richardson (1932) Robert L. Stanton (1932) Marshall A. Talley (1932) James S. Hunter (1940) Jesse L. Dickinson (1942, 1944) Wilbur H. Grant (1942)
Kansas
House
W. M. Blount (1929-1930, 1933–1936) William H. Towers (1937-1939)
Kentucky
House
Charles W. Anderson (1936)
Maryland
Senate
Harry A. Cole (1955-1966)
House
Emory Cole (1955) Truly Hatchett (1955) Verda Welcome (1958 ) Irma George Dixon (1958 )
Massachusetts
House
William H. Lewis (1902)
Michigan
Senate
Charles A. Roxborough (1930) Charles Diggs Sr. (1937-1944) Cora Brown (1952)
House
James W. Ames (1901) Horace A. White (1941) Charline White (1950)
Missouri
House
Walthall M. Moore (1921) Edwin F. Kenswil (1943) William A. Massingale (1947-1948) Walter V. Lay (1949-1954) James Troupe Sr. (1954)
Nebraska
Senate, then Unicameral Legislature
John Adams Jr. (1937)
House (prior to 1937) T. L. Barnett (1924) A. A. McMillan (1924) John Andrew Singleton (1927) Johnny Owen (1933) John Adams Jr. (1935)
New Jersey
General Assembly
Walter G. Alexander (1920) Oliver Randolph (1922) James L. Baxter (1927) Frank S. Hargrave (1930-1931, 1933–1935, 1937-?, 1938–1942) J. Mercer Burrell (1933-1937) Guy R. Moorehead (1937-) James Otto Hill (1943-1947) Madaline A. Williams (1957)
New York
Senate
Julius A. Archibald (1953)