Mississippi senator Hiram Rhodes Revels became the first African American to be seated in the U.S. Congress.

The United States Senate is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and House have the authority under Article One of the U.S. Constitution to pass or defeat federal legislation.

Hiram Rhodes Revels was an American Republican politician, minister in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, and college administrator. Born free in North Carolina, he later lived and worked in Ohio, where he voted before the Civil War. Elected by the Mississippi legislature to the United States Senate as a Republican to represent Mississippi in 1870 and 1871 during the Reconstruction era, he was the first African American to serve in either house of the U.S. Congress.

This is a list of African Americans who have served in the United States Senate. The Senate has had 14 African-American elected or appointed officeholders. Two each served during both the 19th and 20th centuries. The first was Hiram R. Revels.

The United States Congress is the legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a bicameral legislature, including a lower body, the U.S. House of Representatives, and an upper body, the U.S. Senate. They both meet in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C.