House of Representatives – 1950s and 1960s
John Conyers (1929-2019)
John Conyers Jr., who served in the U.S. Congress fifty years (1965 to 2017), was born on May 16, 1929 in...
Robert Nelson Cornelius Nix Sr. (1898-1987)
Robert Nelson Cornelius Nix, Sr. was born on August 9, 1898 in Orangeburg, South Carolina, where his father, Nelson, was...
Louis C. Stokes (1925-2015)
Ohio’s first African American Congressman, Louis C. Stokes was born to Charles and Lois Stokes on February 23, 1925 in...
William Lacy Clay, Sr. (1931- )
Former Missouri Democratic Congressman William L. Clay Sr. was born in St. Louis, Missouri on April 30, 1931, one of...
Augustus Hawkins (1907-2007)
The grandson of a British explorer and the son of a pharmacist, Augustus Freeman “Gus” Hawkins was born in Shreveport,...
Charles Diggs (1922-1998)
Charles Diggs was born in Detroit, Michigan, in 1922. His father was Charles Coles Diggs, and his mother was Mayme...
Shirley Chisholm (1924-2005)
Shirley Anita St. Hill Chisholm, an advocate for the rights of people of color and for women’s rights, became the...
