For starters, 62 Black lawmakers are currently serving in the 118th Congress — the most in U.S. history.
This year’s Congressional Black Caucus class is the largest in its 50-year history, with 60 members in total.
A record number of Black women (29) are also serving in the 118th Congress: 28 in the U.S. House and one in the U.S. Senate.
The 118th Congress also boasts the largest Black Republican delegation (5) since Reconstruction.
Here’s a GIF look at Black history in the making in the 118th Congress.
Florida Rep. Maxwell Frost
In Florida’s 10th Congressional District, Democrat Maxwell Frost made history in 2022 as the first member of Gen Z elected to Congress.
Frost also made history on another front in the 2022 cycle: he is the first Afro-Cuban person ever elected to Congress.
Pennsylvania Rep. Summer Lee
Freshman Rep. Summer Lee made history in 2022 as the first Black woman elected to Congress from Pennsylvania.
Lee represents Pennsylvania’s 12th Congressional District in the U.S. House. She previously served two terms in the Pennsylvania state House.
Michigan Rep. John James
Michigan Rep. John James made history in 2022 as the first Black Republican elected to Congress from Michigan.
In January 2023, James was chosen by House Republicans to nominate then-Republican leader Kevin McCarthy for Speaker of the House.
Texas Rep. Wesley Hunt
Texas Rep. Wesley Hunt is one of two newly elected Black Republicans in the 118th Congress.
Hunt represents Texas’s new 38th Congressional District, which was created after Texas gained two new House seats after the 2020 census.
Illinois Rep. Lauren Underwood
Rep. Lauren Underwood made history in 2022 as the first Black woman elected to House leadership since Shirley Chisholm.
Underwood was elected by House Democrats to co-chair the House Democratic Policy and Communications Committee.
Underwood is no stranger to making history: when she was first elected in 2018, she made history as the youngest Black woman ever elected to Congress.
Texas Rep. Jasmine Crockett
Texas Rep. Jasmine Crockett was elected freshman leadership representative in 2022, becoming the first Black woman in the role.
Crockett won election to Texas’s 30th Congressional District in 2022, succeeding longtime Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries
New York Rep. Hakeem Jeffries made history in 2022 as the first Black person to become party leader in either chamber of Congress.
Jeffries was elected by House Democrats to succeed former Speaker Nancy Pelosi as minority leader in the 118th Congress.
Jeffries also made history in 2023 as the first Black lawmaker ever to be nominated to lead a chamber of Congress.
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