by Karl Kurtz
In January 2007, I posted "African-American Presiding Officers," a list of the eight African-Americans who had served as the top leaders in their legislatures going back to Speaker John Lynch in Mississippi in 1872. At no time in that history were there ever more than two African-American top leaders in state legislatures at the same time. Now, in 2009, there are five black presiding officers or top senate leaders:
California: Speaker Karen Bass
- Colorado: Senate President Peter Groff and Speaker Terrance Carroll
- Nevada: Senate Majority Leader Steven A. Horsford (photo)
- New York: Senate Majority Leader and President Pro Tem Malcolm Smith.
There are others who serve as majority or minority leaders or speaker pro tem or president pro tem, but our focus here is on presiding officers or the top senate leadership position.
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