Alabama votes its first black woman into Congress

Summary from News One 19.02.2011

Terri Sewell is the first African-American woman elected to the United States Congress in the south-eastern state of Alabama. She is a member of the Democratic Party.

Originally from the city of Selma in Alabama, she became a public finance attorney after graduating from Princeton University, Harvard Law School and Oxford University.

Once sworn in to Congress in November this year, Sewell will become the 15th black woman, the largest number of black women ever voted in as representatives.

Black women are rapidly moving to positions of power in state legislatures, with numbers increasing from 12 in 2009 to 238 in 2010, and her win reflects the progress and struggle black women have made in America to serve in political offices.

She told the Montgomery Advertiser: “We need more women. We need more minorities. We need more diversity in electoral politics.”