Diversity in Congress Trivia Quiz

Answer: Dalip Singh Saund

Saund, an Indian born Democrat from California, served three terms in the House (1957-1962). Hiram Fong (R-HI) was the first Asian-American in the U.S. senate, Daniel Inouye (D-HI) was the first Japanese-American in congress, and S.I. Hayakawa (R-CA) was the first Asian-American to be elected to the senate from the mainland U.S.

Interestingly, after Saund, no South Asian was elected to the congress until Bobby Jindal (R-LA) in 2004.

Answer: False

In fact, only two were elected in each century. In the nineteenth century, Hiram Revels and Blanche Bruce were Republicans elected from reconstruction era Mississippi. In the twentieth century, the only two were Edward Brooke (R-MA) and Carol Moseley Braun (D-IL). So far, the twenty-first century seems likely to break that record, having already featured the election of one African-American to the senate: Barak Obama (D-IL).

Answer: Shirley Chisholm

Chisholm (D-NY) was first elected in 1968 and, in 1972, became the first major black contender in a presidential primary. Jordan (D-TX) and Burke (D-CA) were first elected in 1972 and Waters (D-CA) was first elected in 1990.

Answer: Republican

Born in Mexican California, Romualdo Pacheco served as the first (and as of 2004, the only) Latino governor of California. He was elected to congress in 1876.

Answer: Florida

Cuban born Republican Ileana Ros-Lehtinen was first elected in 1988.

Answer: She was the first openly lesbian member of congress

Baldwin, a Wisconsin Democrat, was first elected in 1998. She was the first woman elected to congress from Wisconsin and the first openly gay or lesbian person to be elected as a non-incumbent. The first openly gay member of congress was Barney Frank (D-MA). He had served in the house since 1981 but only publicly acknowledged being gay in 1987.

Answer: Hawaii

Out of the ten people who represented Hawaii in the congress (both house and senate) in the twentieth century, only four were white. Hawaii is a racially diverse state with Japanese-Americans being the largest ethnic group for most of the late twentieth century. Their congressional delegation included Japanese-Americans, Chinese-Americans and Native Hawaiians.

Answer: False

History is not always clear about who may have had native ancestry, but there were at least four Native American senators who served prior to Campbell: Hiram Revels (R-MS) who was also of African heritage; Matthew Stanley Quay (R-PA); Robert Owen (D-OK); and Charles Curtis (R-KN) who also served as vice-president.

Answer: California

The first woman ever to serve in the U.S. senate was Rebecca Felton of Georgia, who served for only two days in 1922 as an interim appointee. She was followed by Hattie Caraway, who was appointed to fill the seat of her late husband; she was reelected twice.

In 1992, California became the first state to be represented by two woman senators when it simultaneously elected Diane Feinstein and Barbara Boxer. Kansas was briefly represented by two women in 1996 when appointee Sheila Frahm joined Nancy Kassebaum. Maine was next in 1997, when Susan Collins joined Olympia Snow and Washington became the fourth state in 2001, when Maria Cantwell joined Patty Murray.

Answer: Joe Lieberman

Lieberman was elected to the senate in 1988 and was nominated for vice-president in 2000; he also ran for president in the 2004 Democratic primaries. The first Jewish senator was David Levy Yulee who became one of Florida's first senators in 1845.