--- title: Congress Has More Black Lawmakers than Ever Before description: Including the first black female Republican elected to the House canonical: https://time.com/3655532/congress-african-american/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-01-06T14:36:08.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T03:19:04.359Z article:section: Politics og:title: Congress Has More Black Lawmakers than Ever Before og:description: Including the first black female Republican elected to the House og:url: https://time.com/3655532/congress-african-american/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbc31d1e5174043d6/6987784c2dce01a92d9dcc85/mia-love-congress.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Mia Love Congress og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Congress Has More Black Lawmakers than Ever Before twitter:description: Including the first black female Republican elected to the House twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbc31d1e5174043d6/6987784c2dce01a92d9dcc85/mia-love-congress.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Congress Now Has More Black Lawmakers than Ever Before by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Jan 6, 2015 2:36 PM UTC  Mia Love, Republican from Utah's 4th Congressional District, is interviewed by Roll Call on June 5, 2014. Mia Love, Republican from Utah's 4th Congressional District, is interviewed by Roll Call on June 5, 2014.Congressional Quarterly—CQ-Roll Call/Getty Images by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Jan 6, 2015 2:36 PM UTC With the swearing in of the 114th Congress on Tuesday, there will be more African Americans in the legislature than in any other period in history. The Congressional Black Caucus is set to have its largest caucus in history with 46 total members including Rep. Mia Love of Utah, the first African American female Republican elected to Congress, and Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ). Though the first black Congressional members were elected in the late 1800s, there were fewer than ten in every session until the 1970s. In the 91st Congress (1969-71), the number of African Americans serving finally topped 20\. Over the past two decades, the number of black members has remained between 39 and 44, according to the [Congressional Research Service](http://www.senate.gov/CRSReports/crs-publish.cfm?pid='0E%2C%2APLW%3C%20P%20%20%0A). In 2015, however, Congress will be home to 44 black representatives, plus two Senators and two non-voting delegates to the House, bringing the total number of black legislators to 48. Congress remains unrepresentative of the nation as a whole, however, where only[ 63% of the population is white and a little more than half of all citizens are women](http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/00000.html). Now, some 18% of the nation’s federal lawmakers now are racial minorities and 20% are women. Congress is also majority [Christian](http://time.com/3653951/congress-religious-breakdown/), with only one member serving who is religiously unaffiliated–in the U.S., about 1 in 5 adults identifies as such. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3655532/congress-african-american/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3655532/congress-african-american/"},"headline":"Congress Now Has More Black Lawmakers than Ever Before","datePublished":"2015-01-06T14:36:08.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T03:19:04.359Z","description":"Overall, however, it's still largely white and male","url":"https://time.com/3655532/congress-african-american/","keywords":["Congress"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbc31d1e5174043d6/6987784c2dce01a92d9dcc85/mia-love-congress.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbc31d1e5174043d6/6987784c2dce01a92d9dcc85/mia-love-congress.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Mia Love Congress","caption":"Mia Love Congress","creditText":"Congressional Quarterly—CQ-Roll Call/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/congress/","name":"Congress"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3655532/congress-african-american/","name":"Congress Now Has More Black Lawmakers than Ever Before"}}]}] ```