Congressional Black Caucus

The Congressional Black Caucus is made up of Black members of the United States Congress. Representative Yvette Clarke from New York, the current chairperson, succeeded Steven Horsford from Nevada in 2025. Although most members belong to the Democratic Party, the CBC founders envisioned it as a non-partisan organization, and there have been several instances of bipartisan collaboration with Republicans.

History

Founding

The predecessor to the caucus was founded in January 1969 as the Democratic Select Committee by a group of black members of the House of Representatives, including Charles Diggs of Michigan, Shirley Chisholm of New York, Louis Stokes of Ohio, and Bill Clay of Missouri. As a result of Congressional redistricting and the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, more black representatives were elected to the House, encouraging them to establish a formal organization. Diggs, who is acknowledged that to have proposed the Democratic Select Committee, would serve as its chairman from 1969 to 1971.
During a meeting between committee members on February 2, 1971, a motion put forward by Clay to transform the Democratic Select Committee into a formal, non-partisan caucus for African American U.S. Congress members was accepted. During the same meeting, the organization, on the motion of Charles Rangel of New York, then changed its name to the Congressional Black Caucus. The thirteen founding members of the caucus were Shirley Chisholm, Bill Clay, George W. Collins, John Conyers, Ron Dellums, Charles Diggs, Augustus Hawkins, Ralph Metcalfe, Parren Mitchell, Robert N. C. Nix Sr., Charles Rangel, Louis Stokes, and Washington, D.C., delegate Walter Fauntroy. Diggs served as its first chairman from 1971 to 1972. Chisholm referred to the group as "unbought and unbossed". Five founding members of the CBC were also members of Prince Hall Freemasonry, an African-American branch of Freemasonry that became involved in civil rights: Stokes, Conyers, Rangel, Hawkins and Metcalfe.
President Richard Nixon refused to meet with the newly formed group, leading the CBC to boycott the 1971 State of the Union address. After their first joint press conference, Nixon finally met with the CBC on March 25, 1971. The Caucus presented the President with a 32-page document including "recommendations to eradicate racism, provide quality housing for black families, and promote the full engagement of blacks in government". All the members of the caucus were included on the master list of Nixon political opponents.
On June 5, 1972, shortly before the 1972 Democratic National Convention nominated George McGovern for president, the CBC released two documents: the Black Declaration of Independence and the Black Bill of Rights. Louis Stokes read a preamble and both documents into the record of the House of Representatives. The Black Bill of Rights includes sections on jobs and the economy, foreign policy, education, housing, public health, minority enterprise, drugs, prison reform, black representation in government, civil rights, voting rights in the District of Columbia, and the military. These documents were inspired by the National Black Political Convention and its own manifesto, The Gary Declaration: Black Politics at the Crossroads.

TransAfrica and Free South Africa Movement

In 1977, the organization was involved in the founding of TransAfrica, an education and advocacy affiliate that was formed to act as a resource on information on the African continent and its Diaspora. They worked closely with this organization to start the national anti-apartheid movement in the US, Free South Africa Movement and to devise the legislative strategy for the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act of 1986 that was subsequently passed over Ronald Reagan's veto.

Funding

In late 1994, after Republicans attained a majority in the House, the House passed House Resolution 6 on January 4, 1995, which prohibited “the establishment or continuation of any legislative service organization..." This decision was aimed at 28 organizations, which received taxpayer funding and occupied offices at the Capitol, including the CBC. Then-chairman Kweisi Mfume protested the decision. The CBC reconstituted as a Congressional Member Organization.

Events

The caucus is sometimes invited to the White House to meet with the president. It requests such a meeting at the beginning of each Congress.
During the 2020 George Floyd protests, the CBC provided House members with stoles made from kente to be worn for an 8:46-long moment of silence before introducing the Justice in Policing Act of 2020.

Goals

The caucus describes its goals as "positively influencing the course of events pertinent to African Americans and others of similar experience and situation", and "achieving greater equity for persons of African descent in the design and content of domestic and international programs and services."
The CBC encapsulates these goals in the following priorities: closing the achievement and opportunity gaps in education, assuring quality health care for every American, focusing on employment and economic security, ensuring justice for all, retirement security for all Americans, increasing welfare funds, and increasing equity in foreign policy.
Representative Eddie Bernice Johnson, has said:

The Congressional Black Caucus is one of the world's most esteemed bodies, with a history of positive activism unparalleled in our nation's history. Whether the issue is popular or unpopular, simple or complex, the CBC has fought for thirty years to protect the fundamentals of democracy. Its impact is recognized throughout the world. The Congressional Black Caucus is probably the closest group of legislators on the Hill. We work together almost incessantly, we are friends and, more importantly, a family of freedom fighters. Our diversity makes us stronger, and the expertise of all of our members has helped us be effective beyond our numbers.

Mark Anthony Neal, a professor of African-American studies and popular culture at Duke University, wrote a column in late 2008 that the Congressional Black Caucus and other African-American-centered organizations are still needed, and should take advantage of "the political will that Obama's campaign has generated."

Congressional Black Caucus PAC

The Congressional Black Caucus PAC is a political action committee founded as a political arm of the caucus, aiming "to increase the number of Black Members of the US Congress...support Non-Black Candidates who will champion the needs and interests of the Black Community" and increase the "participation of Black Americans in the political process". Gregory Meeks chairs the PAC. The CBCPAC is known for its moderate-lean. The PAC caused controversy when it backed incumbent Michael Capuano, a white man, over challenger Ayanna Pressley, a black woman who ultimately defeated him. Two years later, it backed Eliot Engel, a white incumbent, over Jamaal Bowman, a black challenger who went on to defeat him.
HuffPost reporters questioned how endorsements were made, noting that the executive board included corporate lobbyists over CBC members. Representative Brenda Lawrence criticized the PAC's endorsement policies in 2020 and called for it to be reevaluated. Color of Change, a civil rights advocacy nonprofit group, released a letter in 2016 calling on the CBCPAC to cut ties with lobbyists from industries that are "notorious for the mistreatment and exploitation of Black people" including private prisons, pharmaceutical companies, student loan creditors, and big tobacco.

Membership

The caucus has grown steadily as more black members have been elected. At its formal founding in 1971, the caucus had thirteen members. As of 2023, it had 55 members, including two who are non-voting members of the House, representing the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Senate members

As of 2025, there have been twelve black senators since the caucus's founding. The ten black U.S. senators, all Democrats, who are or have been members of the Congressional Black Caucus are Senator Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland, elected in 2024, Senator Lisa Blunt Rochester of Delaware, elected in 2024, Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey, elected in 2013, Senator Raphael Warnock of Georgia, elected in 2021, and Senator Kamala Harris of California, elected in 2016, who resigned in 2021 to take on the vice presidency; former senators Carol Moseley Braun, Barack Obama, and Roland Burris, all of Illinois; former senator Laphonza Butler of California, and former senator Mo Cowan of Massachusetts.
Burris was appointed by Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich in December 2008 to fill Obama's seat for the remaining two years of his Senate term after Obama was elected president of the United States. Cowan was appointed to temporarily serve until a special election after John Kerry vacated his Senate seat to become U.S. secretary of state.
Senator Edward Brooke, a Republican who represented Massachusetts in the 1960s and 1970s, was not a member of the CBC. In 2013, Senator Tim Scott, Republican of South Carolina, also chose not to join the CBC after being appointed to fill Jim DeMint's Senate seat.

Black Republicans in the CBC

The caucus is officially non-partisan; but, in practice, the vast majority of Black politicians elected to Congress since the CBC's founding have been Democrats.
Twelve Black Republicans have been elected to Congress since the caucus was founded in 1971. Of those, only Delegate Melvin H. Evans of the Virgin Islands, Representative Gary Franks of Connecticut, Representative Allen West of Florida, and Representative Mia Love of Utah joined the CBC.
Edward Brooke was the only serving Black U.S. senator when the CBC was founded in 1971, but he never joined the group and sometimes clashed with its leaders. In 1979 Melvin H. Evans, a non-voting delegate from the Virgin Islands, became the first Republican member in the group's history. Gary Franks was the first Republican voting congressman to join in 1991, though he was at times excluded from CBC strategy sessions, skipped meetings, and threatened to quit the caucus.
J. C. Watts did not join the CBC when he entered Congress in 1995, and after Franks left Congress in 1997, no Republicans joined the CBC for fourteen years until Allen West joined the caucus in 2011, though fellow freshman congressman Tim Scott declined to join. After West was defeated for re-election, the CBC became a Democrat-only caucus once again in 2013.
In 2014, two black Republicans were elected to the House. Upon taking office, Will Hurd from Texas declined to join the caucus, while Mia Love from Utah, the first black Republican congresswoman, joined.
In 2021, newly elected black Republican Byron Donalds was blocked from joining the CBC.