Adam Clayton Powell, Jr.

Who was Adam Clayton Powell, Jr.?

Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. was an American politician and pastor who represented Harlem, New York City, in the United States House of Representatives. He was the first person from New York of African American descent to be elected to Congress, and he became a powerful national politician.

In 1961, after sixteen years in the House, Powell became chairman of the Education and Labor Committee, the most powerful position held by an African American in Congress. As Chairman, he supported the passage of important social legislation under presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. Following allegations of corruption, in 1967 Powell was excluded from his seat by Democratic Representatives-elect of the 90th Congress, but he was re-elected and regained the seat in a 1969 United States Supreme Court ruling in Powell v. McCormack.