List of African-American United States Cabinet members

rdf:langString List of African-American United States Cabinet members

rdf:langString Condoleezza Rice smiling wearing a dark blue jacket over a patterned blouse. The United States flag is in the background.

rdf:langString Colin Powell smiling with eye glasses wearing a dark suit jacket, white button-shirt with collar, and a solid burgundy tie. The United States flag is in the background.

rdf:langString Kamala Harris is the highest-ranking African American to serve in a Cabinet as Vice President of the United States.

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rdf:langString Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice are the highest-ranking African Americans to lead the Federal Executive Department; each held the post of Secretary of State.

rdf:langString Kamala Harris Vice Presidential Portrait.jpg

rdf:langString Colin Powell official Secretary of State photo.jpg

rdf:langString Condoleezza Rice cropped.jpg

rdf:langString The Cabinet of the United States, which is the principal advisory body to the president of the United States, has had 25 permanent African-American members serving as vice president or head of one of the federal executive departments and 10 African-American as cabinet-level officials, which can differ under each president. Of that number, one African-American was elected vice president, one was appointed to the helm of the different departments, and no one served both as Cabinet and Cabinet-rank officeholders. The U.S. Census Bureau defines African Americans as citizens or residents of the United States who have origins in any of the black populations of Africa. The term is generally used for Americans with at least partial ancestry in any of the original peoples of sub-Saharan Africa. During the founding of the federal government, African Americans were consigned to a status of second-class citizenship or enslaved. No African American ever held a cabinet position before the Civil Rights Movement or the signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which banned discrimination in public accommodations, employment, and labor unions. Robert C. Weaver became the first African-American to hold a cabinet position; he was appointed secretary of housing and urban development in 1966 by President Lyndon B. Johnson. Patricia Roberts Harris became the first black woman to serve in the president's cabinet when she was appointed to the same position in 1977 by President Jimmy Carter. Harris was the first African-American person to have held two different cabinet positions during a single administration when appointed secretary of health and human services two years later. On January 20, 2001, Colin Powell was appointed secretary of state, which is first in the United States presidential line of succession among Cabinet secretaries, which in turn makes him the highest-ranking African American in United States history. On January 26, 2005, Condoleezza Rice became the highest-ranking black woman in line when she was appointed to the same position. On January 20, 2021, Kamala Harris replaced both Powell and Rice as the highest-ranking African American person in the line of succession when she was inaugurated as vice president. President Bill Clinton named four African-Americans as secretaries to his initial Cabinet—former DAV Executive Director Jesse Brown as secretary of veterans affairs, DNC Chairman Ron Brown as secretary of commerce, Congresswman Mike Espy (D-MS) as secretary of agriculture, and corporate director Hazel R. O'Leary as secretary of energy. Clinton exceeded that record to seven, including cabinet reshuffles during his second term in office. The Department of Housing and Urban Development has had the most African-American secretaries with six. The Department of Transportation has had three. The departments of Education, Health and Human Services, Justice, State, and Veterans Affairs have had two. The departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Energy, Homeland Security, and Labor have had one. The departments of Interior and Treasury are the only existing Cabinet departments that have not had African-American secretaries yet. Totals for this list include only African-American presidential appointees confirmed (if necessary) by the United States Senate to cabinet or cabinet-level positions and taking their oath of office; they do not include acting officials or nominees awaiting confirmation.