Inductee Category: <span>Government and Law</span>
Honorable Kweisi Mfume
Kweisi Mfume, a Morgan State University graduate, represented Baltimore in Congress, chaired the Congressional Black Caucus, and later led the NAACP. He returned to…
Honorable Shirley Franklin
Shirley Franklin, a Howard University graduate, was the first woman and first Black woman elected mayor of Atlanta. She took office after the 2001…
Honorable L. Douglas Wilder
L. Douglas Wilder, a Virginia Union University graduate, became the first African American elected governor in the United States when Virginians chose him in…
Honorable Matthew E. Perry, Jr.
Matthew J. Perry Jr., a South Carolina State University graduate, was the first African American federal judge from South Carolina. As a civil-rights lawyer…
Honorable Andrew Young
Andrew Young, a Howard University alumnus, worked beside Martin Luther King Jr. in the SCLC, then served in Congress, as U.N. ambassador, and as…
Honorable James E. Clyburn
James E. Clyburn is a South Carolina State University graduate and a senior member of the U.S. House. As Majority Whip and a leader…
Honorable John Lewis
John Lewis, a Fisk University alumnus and chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, was beaten on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in 1965 and…
Honorable Joyce London Alexander
Joyce London Alexander, a Howard University graduate, became the first African American woman to serve as a chief U.S. magistrate judge. She sat in…
Honorable William Jefferson
William J. Jefferson, a Southern University graduate, represented a New Orleans district in the U.S. House from 1991 to 2009. His congressional career later…
Reuben V. Anderson
Reuben V. Anderson, a Tougaloo College graduate, was the first African American justice of the Mississippi Supreme Court. He later practiced at a major…