While there’s only been one successful Black American to sit behind the Oval Office, Black folks have a long history of running for U.S. president and getting pretty damn close! Before Barack Obama, several African Americans endured countless “no’s” and harassment just for a chance to run for official office. So now that their sacrifices have helped to break down long-standing color barriers within American politics, we’re taking a look at exactly how they did it!
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Charlene Mitchell
Shirley Chisholm is the first Black woman of a major party, but Charlene Mitchell is technically the first Black woman to run– regardless of party affliction. The year is 1968, and only months after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s murder, Mitchell is named the the Communist Party’s nominee for president on July 4, according to the African American Intellectual History Society.
Her leadership came in the middle of a crisis. Black leaders were being thrown in jail and others were being killed. Though Mitchell didn’t get far in the political race– and she later left the Communist Party– she certainly paved the way for other Black Americans in the ’70s and ’80s to run for office.
Jesse Jackson
We’re still mourning the great loss of civil rights activist Jesse Jackson, who notable ran for office twice. His 1984 campaign was poorly funded, but still, Jackson finished third of eight Democratic candidates. His 1988 bid went a lot better, with him winning the Michigan caucuses early in the year. He even took the lead early in the race. Jackson secured over 1,200 delegates, according to voting data. Former Mass. Gov. Michael Dukakis beat Jackson for the nomination.
George Edwin Taylor
George Edwin Taylor was born a free man in 1857. The Arkansas native was a journalist and community activist by professional, but in 1904, he shocked the country when he ran for president. Before becoming the nominee for the National Negro Liberty Party, which focused on the rights of the formerly enslaved, Taylor was a member of the Democratic party. Things changed, however, when the Black man broke away to focus on more race-based issues.
He ran on anti-lynching legislation and universal suffrage. Taylor notably also advocated for federal pensions for former slaves. In the end, Theodore Roosevelt won the election.
Isabell Masters
When educator Isabell Masters started her own party, she didn’t simply want to make a statement. Masters was looking to change American politics and how Black Americans fit into the bigger picture. She ran for office a total of five times– 1984, 1992, 1996, 2000 and 2004– setting the record for most presidential campaigns for any woman in American history, according to Pasadena Star News. Masters died in 2011.
Channing E. Phillips
After the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy in 1968, Channing E. Phillips stepped in his place. Kennedy and Phillips had worked closely on the camping up until his death. So by the time the Democratic National Convention came in Chicago that you, Phillips allowed his name to nominated in Sen. Kennedy’s place. “Mr. Phillips, who received 67 1/2 votes, said his candidacy was meant to show ‘the Negro vote must not be taken for granted,’” the New York Times reported.
Frederick Douglass
Abolitionist Frederick Douglass made it explicitly clear he did not want to be president. Still, that didn’t stop his supporters from trying to throw his name into the hat. After all, Douglass was respected by white and Black folks alike for his charisma, strong attitude, fashion and writing skills.
He made history in 1872 when he became the first Black man ever nominated for vice president without his consent. He received one vote for president at the 1888 Republican convention, according to Notable Kentucky African Americans Database.
Margaret Wright
Taking a page out of Chisholm’s book, civil rights activist Margaret Wright ran for president in 1976 on the People’s Party ticket. Before becoming a politician, Wright worked at a factory, and she even became an education minister for the Black Panther Party, according to her obituary. Her platform largely focused on labor rights, systemic racism and education reform. She died in 1996.
Straight From 
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