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The Cabinet of the United States has had 24 African-American appointed officers serving as secretaries of one or more of the United States federal executive departments and 10 African-American as cabinet-level officials; with one of them appointed at the helm of the different departments. The vice president historically is also part of the Cabinet, ready to assume the Presidency should the need arise; to date, one African-American has been elected to the position. 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.[1] 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.[2] 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.[3]
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.[4] 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.[a][5]
On January 20, 2001, Colin Powell was appointed secretary of state, which is first in United States presidential line of succession among Cabinet secretaries; thus became the highest-ranking African American in the country's history, up to that time. Condoleezza Rice became the highest-ranking black woman in line when she was appointed to the same position in 2005. 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.[6][7]
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.[8]
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.[9][10]
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.
The following list includes African-Americans who have held permanent positions in the Cabinet, all of whom are in the line of succession to the presidency. The table below is organized based on the beginning of their terms in office. Officeholders whose terms begin the same day are ranked according presidential order of succession.
The president may designate or remove additional officials as cabinet members. These positions have not always been in the Cabinet, so some African American officeholders may not be listed.
The following list includes African-Americans who have held cabinet-rank positions, which can vary under each president. They are not in the line of succession and are not necessarily officers of the United States. The table below is organized based on the beginning of their terms in office while it raised to cabinet-level status. Officeholders whose terms begin the same day are ranked alphabetically by last name.
