Congressional Black Caucus Chairmen and Chairwomen, 1971–Present
In 1971, 13 individuals created the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC).1 The CBC became a focal point for addressing issues important to blacks nationally by acting as an advocacy group for African Americans within the institution and forming a potent bloc for pushing legislative items.2 “Many of the [early] Black Caucus members came out of the heat of the civil rights struggle,” William (Bill) Gray III of Pennsylvania observed. “We have a group of new members whose strategies were shaped in the post-civil rights movement—who use leverage within the system. We see ourselves not as civil rights leaders, but as legislators…the pioneers had made it possible for us to be technicians.”3
Footnotes
1According to Robert Singh, “The central function of caucuses is to bring together legislators with shared interests, backgrounds, and policy goals.” Robert Singh, The Congressional Black Caucus: Racial Politics in the U.S. Congress, (Thousand Oaks, California: Sage, 1998): 58. As internal congressional organizations, caucuses like the CBC formed in great part to pursue a collective agenda with a “strength in numbers” strategy.
2Research materials for the Congressional Black Caucus can be found at the following location:
Congressional Black Caucus Collection
Howard University
Moorland-Spingarn Research Center
500 Howard Place, NW
Washington, DC 20059
http://library.howard.edu/MSRC
3Quoted in Singh, The Congressional Black Caucus: 51.