Scott would be nation’s 7th black US senator

By The Associated Press

Republican Rep. Tim Scott of South Carolina will become the seventh black person to serve in the United State Senate and the first from the South since Reconstruction. South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley named Scott on Monday to succeed Republican Sen. Jim DeMint, who announced earlier this month he would resign Jan. 1 to become president of the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank.

Other blacks who have served in the U.S. Senate are:

_Hiram Revels of Mississippi, who became the first black senator in 1870. The Mississippi state legislature appointed him during Reconstruction and he served just a year. Senate records describe Revels as an outspoken opponent of racial segregation.

_Blanche K. Bruce, who also represented Mississippi during Reconstruction. He was a former slave who served in the Senate from 1875 to 1881.

_Edward Brooke was the first black elected to the Senate by popular vote and represented Massachusetts for two terms, from 1967 to 1979. He championed mass transit, low-income housing and a higher minimum wage.

_Carol Moseley Braun of Illinois became the first and only female black senator, serving one term, 1993 to 1999. She was a prosecutor before winning political office and called for more restrictive gun laws during her tenure. Defeated in her first re-election bid, she later was U.S. ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa.

_Barack Obama of Illinois was elected to the Senate in November 2004. Four years later, he became the nation’s 44th president.

_Roland W. Burris of Illinois was appointed to take Obama’s seat on Dec. 31, 2008. He served two years and was reprimanded by the Senate Ethics Committee for being misleading about his appointment to the seat by then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

Revels, Bruce and Brooke were all Republicans. Moseley Braun, Obama and Burris were all Democrats.