List of African-American United States Cabinet Secretaries

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Colin Powell smiling with eye glasses wearing a dark suit jacket, white button-shirt with collar, and a solid burgundy tie. The United States flag is in the background.
Condoleezza Rice smiling with thickly applied red lipstick wearing a dark blue jacket over a patterned blouse. The United States flag is in the background.
Colin Powell (left) and Condoleezza Rice (right) are the highest-ranking African Americans in the history of the Cabinet, having held the post of Secretary of State, the most senior cabinet position.

The United States Cabinet has had 20 African-American appointed officers. The US Census Bureau defines African Americans as citizens or residents of the United States who have origins in any of the black populations of Africa.[1] The term is generally used for Americans with at least partial ancestry in any of the original peoples of sub-Saharan Africa. During the founding of the federal government, African Americans were consigned to a status of second-class citizenship or enslaved.[2] No African American ever held a Cabinet position before the Civil Rights Movement or the signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which banned discrimination in public accommodations, employment, and labor unions.[3]

Robert C. Weaver became the first African American to hold a Cabinet-level position when he was appointed Secretary of Housing and Urban Development in 1966 by President Lyndon B. Johnson.[4] In 1975, Secretary of Transportation William Thaddeus Coleman, Jr. became the first Republican African American appointed to the Cabinet.[5] Patricia Roberts Harris became the first African-American female cabinet member when she was appointed Secretary of Housing and Urban Development in 1977. In 1979, Harris became the first African American to be head of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, which was split into the departments of Education and Health and Human Services in the same year.[6] The appointments of Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice as Secretary of State made them the highest-ranking African Americans in the United States presidential line of succession.[7]

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has had the most African-American Secretaries, with four. The Department of Transportation has had three. The departments of Health and Human Services, Justice, State, and Veterans Affairs have each had two. The departments of Homeland Security, Agriculture, Commerce, Labor, Energy, and Education has each had one. The three existing departments of Defense, Interior, and Treasury have not had African-American Secretaries. President Bill Clinton has appointed the most African Americans to the Cabinet during his tenure, with seven.

African-American Secretaries

Current departments

Robert C. Weaver was the first African American to hold a Cabinet-level position.
Patricia Roberts Harris was the first African-American woman to serve in the Cabinet.

Numerical order represents the seniority of the Secretaries in the United States presidential line of succession.

 *  denotes the first African-American secretary of that particular department
# Secretary Position Year
appointed		 Party Administration Ref.
1 Colin Powell* Secretary of State 2001 Republican George W. Bush [7][8]
1 Condoleezza Rice Secretary of State 2005 Republican George W. Bush [9]
2  — [a] Secretary of the Treasury  — [a]  — [a]  — [a]  —
3  — [b] Secretary of Defense  — [b]  — [b]  — [b]  —
4 Eric Holder* Attorney General 2009 Democratic Barack Obama [10]
4 Loretta Lynch Attorney General 2015 Democratic Barack Obama [11]
5  — [c] Secretary of the Interior  — [c]  — [c]  — [c]  —
6 Mike Espy* Secretary of Agriculture 1993 Democratic Bill Clinton [12]
7 Ron Brown* Secretary of Commerce 1993 Democratic Bill Clinton [13]
8 Alexis Herman* Secretary of Labor 1997 Democratic Bill Clinton [14][15]
9 Patricia Roberts Harris* Secretary of Health and Human Services 1979 Democratic Jimmy Carter [6][16]
9 Louis Wade Sullivan Secretary of Health and Human Services 1989 Republican George H. W. Bush [17]
10 Robert C. Weaver* Secretary of Housing and Urban Development 1966 Democratic Lyndon B. Johnson [4]
10 Patricia Roberts Harris Secretary of Housing and Urban Development 1977 Democratic Jimmy Carter [6][16]
10 Samuel Pierce Secretary of Housing and Urban Development 1981 Republican Ronald Reagan [18][19][20]
10 Alphonso Jackson Secretary of Housing and Urban Development 2004 Republican George W. Bush [21][22]
11 William Thaddeus Coleman* Secretary of Transportation 1975 Republican Gerald Ford [5]
11 Rodney E. Slater Secretary of Transportation 1997 Democratic Bill Clinton [15][23]
11 Anthony Foxx Secretary of Transportation 2013 Democratic Barack Obama [24]
12 Hazel R. O'Leary* Secretary of Energy 1993 Democratic Bill Clinton [25]
13 Rod Paige* Secretary of Education 2001 Republican George W. Bush [26]
14 Jesse Brown* Secretary of Veterans Affairs 1993 Democratic Bill Clinton [27]
14 Togo D. West Secretary of Veterans Affairs 1998 Democratic Bill Clinton [28]
15 Jeh Johnson* Secretary of Homeland Security 2013 Democratic Barack Obama [29]

Defunct departments

The departments are listed in order of their establishment (earliest first).

 *  denotes the first African-American secretary of that particular department
# Secretary Position Year
appointed		 Party Administration Ref.
1  — [d] Postmaster General  — [d]  — [d]  — [d]  —
2  — [e] Secretary of the Navy  — [e]  — [e]  — [e]  —
3  — [f] Secretary of War  — [f]  — [f]  — [f]  —
4  — [g] Secretary of Commerce and Labor  — [g]  — [g]  — [g]  —
5 Patricia Roberts Harris* Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare 1979 Democratic Jimmy Carter [6][16]

See also

Notes

  • a The Department of the Treasury was established in 1789; no African American has served yet.[30]
  • b The Department of Defense was established in 1947; no African American has served yet.[31]
  • c The Department of the Interior was established in 1849; no African American has served yet.[32]
  • d The Postmaster General ceased to be a member of the Cabinet when the Post Office Department was re-organized into the United States Postal Service, a special agency independent of the executive branch, by the 1970 Postal Reorganization Act. No African American had ever served while it was a Cabinet post.[33]
  • e The Secretary of the Navy ceased to be a member of the Cabinet when the Department of the Navy was absorbed into the Department of Defense in 1947. No African American had ever served while it was a Cabinet post.[34][35]
  • f The position of Secretary of War became defunct when the Department of War became the Department of Defense in 1947. No African American had ever served while it was a Cabinet post.[34]
  • g The position of Secretary of Commerce and Labor became defunct when the Department of Commerce and Labor was subdivided into two separate entities in 1913. No African American had ever served while it was a Cabinet post.[36]

References

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External links

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