Who was the first African American to serve as a U.S. Senator?

• A. Blanche K. Bruce
• B. Hiram Rhodes Revels
• C. Thurgood Marshall
• D. Barack Obama

Answer: (B)

The key idea here is identifying the first African American to serve in the U.S. Senate, a historic milestone during Reconstruction. Hiram Rhodes Revels achieved this by taking office in 1870 as a senator from Mississippi, becoming the first African American to sit in the Senate. His election by the Mississippi state legislature to fill a vacant seat marked a landmark moment, showing that Black Americans could hold high national office.

Blanche K. Bruce followed later as the second African American senator from Mississippi, serving after Revels. Thurgood Marshall is known for becoming the first African American on the Supreme Court, not for serving in the Senate. Barack Obama later served as a U.S. senator from Illinois and then as president, but he was not the first African American in the Senate.