The Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) has a new chairperson for the 119th Congress: Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-N.Y.). The Congressional Black Caucus’ mission is to ameliorate race-based disparities in the United States. The CBC website notes that caucus members represent more than 25% of the U.S. population, including more than 20 million African Americans.
What can we learn from its 53 years of congressional advocacy for Black communities across America? Our research indicates that Black women in Congress bring a unique perspective to this legislative caucus. We argue that those at the intersection of multi-marginalized communities may be better equipped to help America live up to the promise of opportunity for all. These intersecting identities are born out of systemic and interlocking oppression along many fronts, including racism, sexism, classism, or xenophobia.
Clarke, influenced by her lived experiences and identity, is a strong advocate for women, children, and immigrants. She has been a vocal member of the Congressional Black Caucus and is a leader who leans into her intersectional identities to understand how policies can either hurt or help the most marginalized. This advocacy has also led Clarke to serve as one of the three co-chairs of the Congressional Caucus on Black Women and Girls.
Black women’s leadership has long shaped the Congressional Black Caucus
Clarke is not the first woman to chair the organization; in fact, she is the ninth female chair. The first woman to head the CBC was Rep. Yvonne Brathwaite Burke (D-Calif.), the first African American woman elected from California. Both women have represented urban districts outside of the U.S. South – and urban districts in two of the more populous cities in the country, both in blue states. Both are members of a Black Greek Letter Organization: Burke is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc, while Clarke is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.
Our research demonstrates that Black congresswomen often have ties to organizations that prioritize civil rights, and these ties allow them to lead. Indeed, scholarship indicates that Black women’s sorority membership in one of the Divine Nine organizations provides the necessary skills for leadership development, particularly in predominantly white spaces. These sororities foster the formation of social networks that are based on historical traditions of Black women’s leadership that include mentoring, social outlets, and assistance with navigating oppressive structures.
When Burke became chair of the CBC, the organization was in its infancy, having just been founded five years prior, in 1971. Burke was only the third person to chair the organization – and the first to lead the CBC when a Democrat occupied the Oval Office. As the country celebrated its bicentennial in 1976, White Southern Democrats continued to wield meaningful power in Congress, and few Black members were from the South. Out of 17 Black House members that served in the 94th Congress (in session from January 1975 to January 1977), only three – Harold Ford (D-Tenn.), Barbara Jordan (D-Tex.), and Andrew Young (D-Ga.) – represented a former Confederate state. Under Burke’s leadership, the CBC worked with the Carter administration to support issues of interest to Black constituents, but also poor, rural, and Southern constituents in general, regardless of race.
Black women at the helm during GOP administrations
Black women also chaired the CBC when Republicans occupied the White House. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Tex.) was chairperson for the first two years of George W. Bush’s presidency, and Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick (D-Mich.) was chair for the last two years of George W. Bush’s presidency. Karen Bass (D-Calif.) chaired the CBC during the last two years of Donald Trump’s first term as president. These women faced legislative challenges in representing the interests of Black Americans, who are significantly more likely to champion fiscally progressive policies and tend to vote Democratic.
What is different this time? Trump’s return to the White House is marked by his promise to end policies that the CBC believes are central to its mission to promote Black political interests. In 2025, for instance, many companies, universities, and various levels of government are redefining or walking away from diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives to avoid potential conflicts with the incoming Trump administration. Universities can no longer consider race in admission decisions, and a growing number of states seek to outlaw discussion of race and other issues entirely. Meanwhile, Black women continue to experience poorer health outcomes, and climate issues that call attention to environmental racism continue to rise. Amid all these challenges, the CBC – and other civil rights organizations – affirmed their fight against Trump’s priorities.
In 2025, many decades and chairpersons later, Yvette Clarke is poised to lead the CBC in a politically fraught time during the second Trump administration. In a statement after the CBC elected her last month, Clarke stated that the CBC needs to “stand as the resistance to extreme ideologies of Project 2025” and said she is “…committed to working with my colleagues to call out this extremist agenda and fight like hell for a pathway forward.”
Clarke, Chisholm, and multiracial democracy
Clarke appears to be akin to one of her political heroes: Shirley Chisholm (D-N.Y.), a founding CBC member. Indeed, Clarke represents the same district that Chisholm once held and is proud to follow in her footsteps. Like Chisholm, Clarke is unafraid to speak her mind and advocate on behalf of the most marginalized in the country, while centering on Black women. Clarke is part of a tradition of Black congresswomen like Yvonne Brathwaite Burke (D-Calif.), Eva Clayton (D-N.Y.), Cardiss Collins (D-Ill.), Barbara Jordan (D-Tex.), Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Tex.), and others who joined the CBC to advocate for Black communities. As Clarke notes, the challenge before the CBC and Black women in Congress is to focus on the ”issues and desires of Black women so that there’s a specific voice that speaks to the unique position that Black women find themselves in in the 21st century.”
More than ever, the CBC as the ”Conscience of the Congress” will need to use whatever tools are at its disposal. In many ways, the role of the chair will be akin to what it was at its inception. The GOP majority in government means Black lawmakers as a group are situated to use the CBC’s voice to remind the nation of what it can be. If America embraces the opportunity to become a fully functioning multiracial democracy that uplifts others – and a place that is truly the land of opportunity for all – a Black woman may be the ideal person to lead the CBC legislators at this time.
Nadia E. Brown is professor of government and director of Women’s and Gender Studies at Georgetown University. She is the co-author of “Sister Style“ (Oxford University Press, 2021) and author of “Sisters in the Statehouse” (Oxford University Press, 2014).
Christopher J. Clark is associate professor of political science at the University of North Carolina. He is the author of “Gaining Voice” (Oxford University Press, 2019).