Indiana Black Legislative Caucus

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The Indiana Black Legislative Caucus is an American political organization composed of African Americans elected to the Indiana General Assembly.

Role[]

By drafting and sponsoring legislation to address constituent needs and by examining all bills that affect the minority populace, the Caucus acts as a legislative body on behalf of the minority community. The Caucus presents a minority perspective from the entire state to the Legislature and advocates public policies that promote minority social, cultural and economic progress, statewide. In addition, the Caucus serves as a research study group to generate pertinent data in support of appropriate public policies.

Current membership[]

List of officers:^[1]

History[]

The first African-American man elected to the Indiana House of Representatives was James Sidney Hinton in 1880. A few other African-American members, James Townsend, Richard Bassett and were elected in the late 19th century (all of whom, like Hinton, were Republicans), and after Jones' retirement in 1897, no African-Americans were elected again to the General Assembly until 1933, when Robert Stanton was elected as the first African-American Democrat in the House in 1933, and African-Americans have been present in the General Assembly ever since. In 1940, Robert Brokenburr, a Republican, became the first African-American State Senator. Daisy Riley Lloyd became the first African-American woman in the House in 1965, and Julia Carson and Katie Hall became the first in the Senate in 1977.^[2] In 1979, the Indiana Black Legislative Caucus was established.

Notes[]