Alabama has elected 190 members to the U.S. House for over 205 years, but it achieved a first last week: Two Black residents from Alabama took the oath of office to serve in the U.S. House at the same time.

Democratic U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Birmingham; and U.S. Rep. Shomari Figures, D-Mobile; were sworn in as members of the 119th U.S. Congress, a historical moment recognized during the Congressional Black Caucus swearing-in event Friday in Washington, D.C.

“I think it’s always significant and worth noting when we have first, such as this occurring, especially given the history of the State of Alabama, the South and this country,” Figures said in an interview with AL.com Monday.

“But at the end of the day, it’s all about representation. We got elected to not just represent Black people and Black people in District 2, but we were elected to represent the people of this district and that is what we’re going to do.”

Figures and Sewell join a short list of only seven Black Alabama residents elected to serve in the U.S. House.

No Black Alabamian has ever been elected to serve in the U.S. Senate. And only four Black lawmakers have been elected to represent the state since Reconstruction.

The caucus recognized the historical moment along with another first as it’s the first time two Black women are serving together in the U.S. Senate — Democrats Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland and Lisa Blunt Rochester of Delaware.

The congressional term is starting off with a record of 62 elected Black officials, up from 13 who were the founding members of the Black Caucus in 1971.

Sewell, the longest serving Black member of Congress from Alabama, is also the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s board of directors.

Speaking at the event on Friday, she said that Black lawmakers “stand on the shoulders of giants.”

“We are now a powerful voting bloc who can move public policy, can elect vice presidents, and now have our first African American to lead the party, Hakeem Jeffries,” Sewell said, referring to the House Minority Leader from New York.

Sewell is the only Black woman to be elected to Congress from Alabama.

Figures was elected to serve the 2nd district in November, defeating Republican Caroleene Dobson by a 54.6%-45.5% margin.

Wayne Flynt, professor emeritus at Auburn University and an Alabama state historian, said the significance of having two Black members serving in the U.S. House from Alabama was “by no means a historical footnote.”

“As often happens in historical periods of significant transition, the most courageous, confident and competent leaders tend to be push forward by their followers in the early stage of upheaval and change,” Flynt said.

“Usually movements get their most passionate, aggressive, fearless well-known leaders in this early stage who, as a result, become legendary figures in history.”

Reconstruction era

The first three Black members of the U.S. House from Alabama were each elected in the 1870s, but none them served concurrently. None of the first three Black members also served beyond a single term.

The first Black federal lawmaker from Alabama was Benjamin Turner, as Dallas County tax collector, who represented Alabama’s 1st congressional district from March 4, 1871-March 3, 1873.

The district included Selma, Mobile, and the state’s rural Black Belt region. Turner was a political moderate who refused to make patronage appointments while serving in Congress and ended up losing re-election after one term in office.

James Rapier, the first Black newspaper publisher in Alabama, was elected to serve the 2nd congressional district in 1873.

He is best known for supporting a port bill for Montgomery, which led to its economic growth at the time. Rapier lost re-election to a former Confederate Army Major following an election that included armed mobs and intimidate from the Ku Klux Klan.

Jeremiah Haralson, an influential Alabama State senator, represented the 1st district from March 4, 1874-March 3, 1877.

While in Congress, he sought to gain amnesty for the former Confederates. He lost re-election after redistricting redrew his Selma home into the 4th congressional district. An armed mob attacked him in 1878, and he was ordered to leave the state.

Redistricting

In modern times, the addition of Black lawmakers in Alabama has come mostly due to redistricting.

Figures won the new 2nd congressional district redrawn by a three-judge federal panel in 2023, following a lawsuit contesting Alabama’s congressional map as a violation to the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

The district was redrawn to provide a second “opportunity district” to give Black voters a chance to select their preferred candidate.

The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the lower court’s ruling by a 5-4 vote in June 2023, which led to the creation of a 2nd district that is over 47% Black, compared to 45% white.

“The lawsuits (that created) this district was about giving people the opportunity to have a legitimate voice and selecting the representation in their state,” Figures said. “African Americans make up less than a third of the population under the maps that existed (before 2023) and could only influence one of seven congressional districts. The more you can make your representatiton reflective of the community make up of the State of Alabama, the better off we are all. I’m incredibly blessed and humbled to do just that.”

Redistricting created the state’s first majority-Black district in Alabama’s 7th congressional district in 1992.

Earl Hilliard, a former state legislator and chair of the first Alabama Black Legislative Caucus, won the 7th district seat that included Birmingham, Selma, and Montgomery. It was redrawn after the 1990 Census to be a 65% majority non-white district.

Hilliard held onto the seat for a decade until he lost to Artur Davis in the 2002 Democratic primary.

The contest between the two was bitter, and Davis ended up winning the race after criticizing Hillard for voting against a bill increasing funding to Israel and for opposing the criminalization of Palestinian politicians.

Davis, an assistant U.S. attorney from 1994-1998, served in the seat from 2003-2011. He was the first Democratic politician outside of Illinois to endorse Barack Obama’s presidential candidacy in 2008.

Davis opted not to seek re-election in 2010 but instead ran for governor. He lost to Ron Sparks in the Democratic primary.