to gain a voice in government. Toward the end
of the nineteenth century, however, that voice
began to fade as southern Reconstruction
crumbled and white supremacy reasserted it-
self. The voice fell completely silent in 1901
when George H. White, a congressman from
North Carolina and the last black person in
Congress in the nineteenth century, completed
his term in office and failed to be reelected. It
was not until Oscar Stanton De Priest won a
seat in Congress from the state of Illinois in
1928 that African Americans regained repre-
sentation on the federal level. What De Priest
began in the early twentieth century gained
momentum until today. African Americans are
well represented on all levels of government and
in every state of the union. Students and schol-
ars of politics and African American history, as
well as general readers, will find in Distinguished
African American Political and Governmental
Leaders not only insight into the individual lives
of these people but, collectively, a portrait of a
struggle for freedom and equality spanning more
than a century.

Each of the biographies in this book con-
tains sections on birth, status, education, and
positions held, including dates and locations,
in easy-to-scan lists. The profiles also cover in
more detail leaders' early years, higher educa-
tion, and career highlights. Specifically, infor-
mation includes parents' names and back-
grounds, schools attended, awards and honors,
membership and affiliations, positions and of-
fices held, important actions or achievements,
anecdotes and quotes, marriages and spouses'
names, children's births and names, and deaths
and burials, where applicable. Many of the
sources that follow each profile include Web
sites for easy access to further information; a
general bibliography lists all sources in the book.
Four appendixes categorize leaders by birth
date, position, state, and party affiliation. In ad-
dition, cross-references are provided in bold to
lead readers to related profiles in this work.

The biographies included here are drawn
from a wide variety of sources, both print and
electronic. At times, approximations of dates
or other information are given because many
of the early records concerning particular Afri-
can Americans in the United States are frag-
mentary. Up until the middle of the twentieth
century what history African Americans had
was frequently dependent upon these fragments
and upon memory. Amid the shelves and
shelves of histories on the making of America,
there seemed to be little room for black
America. For the most part, black history lived
not in books, but in the remembrances of those
who lived it, knew its value, and shared it with
others orally.

In the last 50 years, however, a dramatic
change has occurred. Historians have sought
out the old records, listened to the voices of
the past, and documented African American
involvement in the making of the United
States, pushing aside some of the books on the
shelves to make room for the truth. The intent
of Distinguished African American Political and
Governmental Leaders is to build upon that
truth, to introduce the past to the readers of
today and of tomorrow. Readers are invited to
propose additional African American govern-
ment and political leaders for inclusion in sub-
sequent editions of this book. Please send your
nominations to James Haskins; The Oryx Press;
4041 N. Central, Suite 700; Phoenix, Arizona
85012.

Myers Walter Dean. Now Is Your Time! The African-
American Struggle for Freedom. New York:
HarperCollins, 1991.

Smith Jessie Carney, ed. Black Firsts: 2,000 Years of Ex-
traordinary Achievement. Detroit, MI: Visible Ink
Press, 1994.

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