Professor Chris Mooney of the University of Illinois at Springfield compiled the following list of African-Americans who have served as presiding officers of state legislatures (by first year of service). He used a listserv maintained by the Legislative Studies Section of the American Political Science Association.
John R. Lynch
Speaker of the Mississippi
House of Representatives (1872)
Cecil A, Partee
President of the Illinois Senate
(1971-73, 1975-77)
S. Howard Woodson
Speaker of the New Jersey Assembly
(1974-75)
K. Leroy Irvis
Speaker of the Pennsylvania
House of Representatives
(1977-79, 1983-89)
Willie k. Brown Jr.
Speaker of the California Assembly
(1981-95)
Daniel T. Blue Jr.
Speaker of the North Carolina
House of Representatives
(1991-94)
Herb Wesson
Speaker of the California Assembly
(2002-04)
Emil Jones Jr.*
President of the Illinois Senate
(2004-present)
Additions or corrections to this list are welcomed. A number of...