How many African Americans have been elected to the United States Senate?

themonarch

Five African Americans have been elected to the United States senate. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_Americans_in_the_United_States_Congress Jan 15 08, 4:06 PM

Baloo55th

To clarify, I mean elected by the people in an election. Jan 15 08, 4:25 PM

star_gazer

Barack Obama, the newly elected senator from Illinois, is currently the only black senator. He is the third black senator since Reconstruction - the other two being Carole Moseley Braun and Edward Brooke. There were also two black senators elected during the post-Civil War reconstruction. They were Hiram Rhoades Revels and Blanche K. Bruce, both from Mississippi. http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/10635 Jan 15 08, 4:49 PM

queproblema

Nobody was elected "by the people" to the U.S. Senate before Amendment XVII was ratified in 1913; senators were originally chosen by their state legislature. So that leaves three: Brooke, Moseley-Braun, and Obama. http://www.usconstitution.net/const.html#Am17 Now, we could be picky and say they were elected by the people if we consider state legislators people. But they aren't "the" people, and the Constitution says "chosen," not "elected." http://www.usconstitution.net/const.html#A1Sec3 Jan 15 08, 5:40 PM

Baloo55th

Three is what I was looking for. As Qp points out, prior to XVII no-one was popularly elected to the US Senate. Jan 16 08, 2:57 PM