Early Blacks in California Politics

Frederick Madison Roberts

1879-1952

The family of Frederick Madison Roberts (1879-1952) migrated to Los Angeles in the mid 1880s. By the teens of century he was editor of the New Age and a strong advocate for African American civil rights in Los Angeles. Mr. Roberts and his publication were a strong counterpoint to the racism in white newspapers and advertisements He also played a leading role in his family’s mortuary business and was a prominent member of Los Angeles’s African American community. Roberts was elected to the California State Assembly from the 74th District in November 1918 – the first African American in the state’s history. He was re-elected in 1920.

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Mervyn Dymally

1926-

A native of Trinidad, migrated to the United States in 1946. His involvement in public service began as a Field Coordinator in the campaign of John F. Kennedy in 1960. He was elected to the California State Assembly and served from 1962-66. In 1966 he was elected to the California State Senate becoming the first African American to do so. Mr. Dymally would again make history in 1974 becoming the first African American Lieutenant Governor in the state’s history. In 1980 he became the first foreign-born African American to be elected to the United States Congress. After a 10-year hiatus Dymally returned to the California State Assembly from the 52nd District (2002-2008) and was Chair of the Legislative Black Caucus.

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Gilbert Lindsay

(1900-91)

Lindsay was the first African American to serve on the Los Angeles City Council. Born on a cotton plantation in Jasper County, Mississippi, he left the South for school in Pittsburgh and migrated to Arizona where he served with the U.S. Army in both the 10th Calvary and the 25th Infantry. Mr. Lindsay began his working career in Los Angeles as a janitor in the basement of the Department of Water and Power. He made history when he was appointed deputy to Supervisor Kenneth Hahn in 1952. Mr. Lindsay held that position for ten years before replacing Edward Roybal as councilman in the Ninth District. As the self-proclaimed “Emperor of the Great Ninth District,.” Lindsay’s leadership engendered commercial development as well as senior citizen housing, recreation and childcare centers from downtown Los Angeles to South Los Angeles.

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Yvonne Braithwaite Burke

1932-

Burke was the first African American woman elected to the California State Assembly from the 63rd District in 1966. and in 1972 the first elected to the United States Congress from the 37th District. In 1992 Yvonne Burke continued her record of “firsts” with her election to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.