Here’s how the number of Black Americans in Congress has tripled over 30 years

There are 62 Black members of the current Congress, the most ever. The current meeting of Congress is one of the most racially diverse in history. About 11% of congressional members identify as Black. A quarter of members from the 118th Congress identify as something other than non-Hispanic white, according to the most recent data from the Congressional Research Service. Congress is a ways away from 1870, when Rep. Hiram Rhodes Revel of Mississippi was elected to serve as the first Black person in Congress. Revels filled an empty Senate seat and only served a year. It was decades until Black representation really started to grow. Here’s the current state of Black Americans in Congress and what it took to get there.

A record 62 Black Congressmembers (11.5% of total membership) are serving in the 118th Congress — three more than the 117th Congress. Fifty-nine of those members serve in the House and three serve in the Senate. Twenty-seven House members including two Delegates (people representing a United States territory), are Black women. Representation of Black Americans in the House is slightly larger than the share of Black Americans in the US: 13% of House members are Black, compared to 12.61% of the US population. Sixty years ago, there were only four Black members in Congress, all serving in the House. About 35 years ago, 21 Black members served in the House. None served in the Senate. The number of Black congress members has tripled since then. Get facts first Unbiased, data-driven insights in your inbox each week Kamala Harris is the first of many: She is the first Black American and first South Asian American serving as Vice President. Vice President Harris served in the Senate beginning in 2017 and was the second Black woman to ever serve in the Senate. The 118th Congress is also home to a few firsts. Rep. Maxwell Frost is the first Gen Z member and only Afro-Cuban in Congress. Rep. Summer Lee is the first Black woman elected to the House from Pennsylvania. New York’s Rep. Hakeem Jeffries is the first Black person to lead a major political party in Congress.