<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Willis_Menard" id="mwYQ" rel="mw:WikiLink" title="John Willis Menard">John Willis Menard</a> (R-LA) was the first African American elected to the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Congress" id="mwYg" rel="mw:WikiLink" title="United States Congress">United States Congress</a>.  Because of an electoral challenge, he was never seated.