African-American presiding officers.

• Position: TRENDS AND TRANSITIONS - List

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...