Two African American U.S. Senators, First Time In History

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Two African Americans established their place in Black history earlier this month, both being appointed into recently vacated U. S. Senate seats--the first time African Americans have served simultaneously in that office.

William "Mo" Cowan, a Democrat, from Massachusetts, along with Senator Tim Scott, a Republican, from South Carolina, share similar childhood struggles, both crediting their success to their mothers and mentors. However their political viewpoints are vastly different.

Massachusetts Gov., Deval Patrick appointed Cowan, a former top aide, to serve as interim U.S. senator for Massachusetts until a special election is held to fill the seat left vacant by U.S. Sen. John Kerry's confirmation as Secretary of State.

Gov. Patrick referred to Cowan as a trusted adviser and friend who earned the respect of people throughout government.

"There is talent in every community in the commonwealth and to the extent that we can reflect that and encourage little boys and little girls of color or who are poor or who grew up in marginalized circumstances to imagine what it might be like to serve the public in these ways, then I think that's a great thing," Gov. Patrick said at recent press conference.

Sworn in Feb. 7, Sen. Cowan, 43, said he was humbled by the appointment. He stepped down as the governor's chief-of-staff last month after previously serving as chief legal counsel.

"I'm deeply honored and humbled" to serve as senator," Cowan said in a statement. "Even though I will be in the Senate for a short time, I will use that time to do my best, working alongside Senator Warren, to continue the work that Secretary Kerry started and uphold the traditions that he and the late Senator Ted Kennedy established in serving the commonwealth," Cowan said.

Born in Yadkinville, North Carolina on April 4, 1969, and graduating from Duke University in 1991 and Northeastern University School of Law in 1994, Cowan has no plans to run for public office in the future and reportedly plans to return to the private sector after his interim appointment.

Senator Cowan served as Governor Deval Patrick's Chief Legal Counsel in 2009, advising the governor on legal and policy issues, judicial selection, legislation and all legal issues concerning the governor and the Office of the Governor. In Dec. 2010, Gov. Patrick appointed him to serve as his chief of staff.

Senator Cowan resides in Stoughton with his wife, Stacy, and their two young sons. He will be the state's second African-American U.S. Senator. Edward William Brooke III served from 1967-1979 and was also the nation's very first African American U.S. Senator to be elected by popular vote.

A special primary election to permanently fill Kerry's Senate seat is expected to take place during mid-May, with the special general election to follow on June 25.

Appointed, by Gov. Nikki Haley to fill Jim DeMint's senate seat in Dec., Sen. Tim Scott, was a failing high school student before being mentored by White conservative entrepreneur John Moniz, who ran the local Chick-Fil-A restaurant.

Scott developed a real estate business and became a partner in Pathway Real Estate Group in Charleston and won early admiration from the GOP by working for local Republican campaigns and first sought elected office in 1995 winning a position on the Charleston County Council, as a Republican.

During Scott's tenure on the County Council, the local NAACP brought suit under the Voting Rights Act alleging discriminatory districting prevented Blacks from being elected to the Council. However, given Scott's presence, the suit was rejected, to the frustration of many African-Americans in Charleston. After 13 years on the County Council, Scott was elected to the state House.

It was Scott's 2010 upset in his campaign for U.S. Rep. that led to national exposure with his defeat of Paul Thurmond, son of the late Senator Strom Thurmond, a renowned segregationist. Scott became the first Black Republican to enter Congress from the Deep South since Reconstruction. All other Blacks in Congress, from the South, are Democrats.

Endorsed by the "Tea Party," Scott is a conservative who rejected membership in the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), according to published reports.

Scott, who has been quoted as saying his campaign was never about race, will seek a full term in 2014.

There have been six previous African-Americans in the Senate. Only Blanche Bruce (1875-1881), Edward Brooke (1967-1979), and Carol Moseley Braun (1993-1999) served full terms.

However, in 1870, when Hiram Revels, a Republican, from Mississippi, became the first African-American in the U.S. Senate, he began a political legacy. Born in North Carolina in 1827, Hiram Revels attended Knox College in Illinois and later served as minister in the African Methodist Episcopal Church in Baltimore, Maryland. He raised two black regiments during the Civil War and fought at the battle of Vicksburg in Mississippi.

The Mississippi state legislature sent him to fill a vacancy in the U.S. Senate during Reconstruction, and he quickly became an outspoken opponent of racial segregation. Although Revels' term in the Senate lasted just a year, he broke new ground for African Americans in Congress.

Now, Senator Scott and Senator Cowan are part of that evolving legacy.

Information chronicled by Gloria J. Browne-Marshall, and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

By Deborah Bayliss

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