House of Representatives – 1980s
Harold Washington (1922-1987)
Harold Washington, the first African American mayor of Chicago, Illinois, was born on April 15, 1922, to Roy Washington, a...
Alton Ronald Waldon Jr. (1936- )
Alton Ronald Waldon Jr. was the first African American Congressman elected from Queens, New York. Waldon was born in Lakeland,...
Kweisi Mfume (Frizzel Gray) (1948- )
Kweisi Mfume was born as Frizzel Gray in Baltimore, Maryland on October 24, 1948, the eldest of four children. Gray...
Augustus Alexander “Gus” Savage (1925- )
Augustus Alexander Savage, later better known as “Gus”, was born in Detroit, Michigan, on October 30 1925. Savage attended public...
Donald Milford Payne (1934-2012)
Donald Payne, a Democrat, was the first African American elected to Congress from the State of New Jersey. Payne was born...
Major Robert Owens (1936- )
Former New York Congressman Major Robert Owens was born on June 28, 1936 in Collierville, Tennessee. He graduated from Hamilton...
Alan Dupree Wheat (1951- )
Alan Dupree Wheat, the first black Congressman from Kansas City, Missouri, was born in San Antonio, Texas, on October 16,...
Craig Anthony Washington (1941- )
Craig Anthony Washington, former Congressman from Houston, Texas, was born in Longview, Gregg County, Texas on October 12, 1941 to...
Edolphus Towns (1934- )
Currently in his 13th term in Congress, Edolphus Towns is a Democratic Representative from the State of New York. Towns...
