Reeves fit a lot of living into 74 years, his daughter, Tracey Reeves Lumpkin said Thursday of her father, who died Wednesday at his home in Auburn, Ala. Reeves hasn’t lived in Syracuse for decades, but will forever be a part of this city’s history as the first black person elected to public office. Raised in Syracuse, Reeves was a 24-year-old student at Syracuse University when he was elected as 15th Ward supervisor on Nov. 7, 1961.
http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2012/08/malchester_reeves_first_black.html
Before winning two terms as the first African-American president of the United States, Barack Obama served three terms as an Illinois state senator. Obama was the only Senate member of the Congressional Black Caucus throughout his shortened term as U.S senator.
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/OTUS/reconstruction-african-american-senators/story?id=18368916
Mae Jemison becomes the first black female astronaut. 1993 - Shiela Widnall becomes the first secretary of a branch of the U.S. military when she is appointed to head the Air Force. Janet Reno becomes the first woman U.S. attorney general. 1997 - Madeleine Albright is sworn in as U.S. secretary of state.
http://www.library.illinois.edu/doc/researchtools/guides/subject/womengov.html
Also elected by the Mississippi Senate, Blanche Kelso Bruce was the first African-American senator to serve a full term, from 1875 to 1881. Bruce's mother, Polly Bruce, was a house slave, and his father was a white Virginia plantation owner.
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/OTUS/reconstruction-african-american-senators/story?id=18368916
It made him the first African-American to be elected to a state office position in Illinois. In 1991, Burris made more history as the second African-American ever to be elected to the office of state attorney general. He later pursued unsuccessful campaigns for the offices of governor of Illinois and mayor of Chicago.
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/OTUS/reconstruction-african-american-senators/story?id=18368916
1965 - Patsy Takemoto Mink, of Hawaii, is the first Asian-American woman elected to Congress. She served in the U.S. House of Representatives for 24 years. 1969 - Shirley Chisholm, of New York, becomes the first African-American woman in Congress and the first female black U.S. Representative.
http://www.library.illinois.edu/doc/researchtools/guides/subject/womengov.html
Before his appointment to the Senate in 2012, Tim Scott was the first elected African-American representative in South Carolina since 1897. His senatorial appointment made him the first black senator to represent South Carolina and the first African-American to represent a southern state in the Senate since 1881.
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/OTUS/reconstruction-african-american-senators/story?id=18368916
Malchester Reeves, seated, meets during his 1961 campaign for 15th Ward supervisor with campaign treasurer William Canedy, at left, and campaign manager Milton Fields, at right. Reeves, the first black elected to public office in the Syracuse area, died Wednesday. Syracuse, N.Y. -- Malchester Reeves got up early and went to bed late. He had a lot of life to live — there were three daily newspapers to read, fish to catch and four children and four grandchildren to keep tabs on.
http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2012/08/malchester_reeves_first_black.html
Edward Brooke made history in 1967 as the first African-American senator elected by popular vote. He was also the first black senator to carry out two full, consecutive terms before being defeated in 1978.
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/OTUS/reconstruction-african-american-senators/story?id=18368916
Major African American Office Holders Since 1641. The election of Illinois Senator Barack Obama as President of the United States in 2008 has focused attention on the history of black office holding. The list below represents the most significant of the thousands of African American elected officials from 1641 until today. Most of the names below are linked to their profiles on BlackPast.org. First Person of African Ancestry Elected to a Public Office in British North America:
http://www.blackpast.org/aah/major-african-american-office-holders
who was the first black to be elected into public office
Tracey Reeves Lumpkin was the first black to be elected into public office.