African American Studies by Credo Reference: Politics

In the United States, programs to overcome the effects of past societal discrimination by allocating jobs and resources to members of specific groups, such as minorities and women.

Americans descended from African forebears, usually those enslaved and brought to the USA before the 1863 Emancipation Proclamation.

US movement especially active during the 1950s and 60s that aimed to end segregation and discrimination against blacks, as well as affirm their constitutional rights and improve their status in society.

Addition to the U.S. Constitution, adopted 1868. The amendment comprises five sections.

Organization composed mainly of American blacks, but with many white members, whose goal is the end of racial discrimination and segregation.

In Black Firsts
District of Columbia Bar
Federal Appointees
Federal Employees

In From Suffrage to the Senate: America's Political Women
Democrat Carol Moseley Braun of Illinois served in the U.S. Senate from January 3, 1993 to January 3, 1999. She was the first African American woman elected to the U.S. Senate.

American politician who as a U.S. representative from New York State (1969-1983) sought an end to the Vietnam War and advocated educational and social reforms.

American civil rights leader and politician. A Baptist minister, he directed national antidiscrimination efforts (1966-1977) and sought the 1984 and 1988 Democratic presidential nominations.

Best known as a politician, Jordan became the first African-American state senator in Texas since 1883, the first woman state senator ever (1966–1972), and the first African-American congresswoman from the South (1972–1978).

In 1967 President Johnson appointed him to the US Supreme Court, a post he held until 1991. The first black Supreme Court justice, Marshall was a strong voice for civil and individual rights throughout his career.

Few Americans have risen to prominence in American politics as quickly or as dramatically as Barack Hussein Obama, the forty-fourth president of the United States.

U.S. army general and government official.

US politician, national security advisor 2001-04 and secretary of state from 2005.

Charges of sexual harassment made the 1991 confirmation hearing for Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas (1948—), a prominent black conservative, one of the most tumultuous in the nation's history.