The Arkansas State Senate is the upper branch of the Arkansas General Assembly. The Senate consists of 35 members, each representing a district with about 83,000 people. Service in the state legislature is part-time, and many state senators have full-time jobs during the rest of the year. During the current term, the Senate contains twenty-nine Republicans and six Democrats.
James T. White was a Baptist minister and state legislator from Helena and Little Rock, Arkansas. He was a member of the Arkansas House of Representatives and later the Arkansas Senate in the late 1860s and early 1870s. He was also a member of the Arkansas constitutional conventions in 1868 and 1874. He edited the Baptist newspaper, The Arkansas Review. He was an African American and a Republican. In 1868 he was among the first six African Americans to serve in the Arkansas House.
The Ninety-First Arkansas General Assembly was the legislative body of the state of Arkansas in 2017 and 2018. In this General Assembly, the Arkansas Senate and Arkansas House of Representatives were both controlled by the Republicans. In the Senate, 23 senators were Republicans, 11 were Democrats, and one position was vacant until April. In the House, 69 representatives were Republicans, 30 were Democrats, and one was independent.
Gabriel Acevero is a Trinidadian–American organizer, activist and politician representing Maryland's 39th House district. On November 6, 2018, Acevero finished in first place with 31% of the vote and became the first openly gay Afro-Latino, and one of the youngest people, elected to the Maryland House of Delegates. Acevero is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America.
The Ninety-Second Arkansas General Assembly is the legislative body of the state of Arkansas in 2019 and 2020. In this General Assembly, the Arkansas Senate and Arkansas House of Representatives were both controlled by the Republicans. In the Senate, 26 senators were Republicans and 9 were Democrats. In the House, 76 representatives were Republicans, 24 were Democrats. A special session was called in March 2020 to address the COVID-19 pandemic.
Nathan E. Edwards was a state legislator in Arkansas. He represented Chicot County as a Republican for the 1893 session. He was one of at least four African Americans in the Arkansas House of Representatives in 1893 along with George W. Bell in the state senate. He and other Arkansas legislators were photographed in 1893.
John H. Carr was a farmer and member of the Arkansas Legislature in 1891. He represented Phillips County, Arkansas. He served in the Arkansas House of Representatives in 1891.
Howard McKay was a state representative in Arkansas. He represented Jefferson County, Arkansas, and was one of at least four African Americans in the Arkansas House of Representatives in 1893. George W. Bell was serving in the state senate. He and other Arkansas legislators were photographed in 1893.
J. T. Rodgers was a member of the Arkansas House of Representatives in 1893. He was a white Democrat and served with two African Americans who also represented Jefferson County, Arkansas in the House that year, P. H. Booth and Howard McKay.
David Morales is an American politician and activist. He is the state representative in the Rhode Island House of Representatives for the 7th district. A member of the Democratic Party, Morales took office in January 2021 with support from the Democratic Socialists of America, the Working Families Party, the Sunrise Movement, and other progressive organizations. At 22, he is currently the youngest member of the Rhode Island State Legislature and is the youngest Latino state lawmaker in the country.
Styles Linton Hutchins was an attorney, politician, and activist in South Carolina, Georgia, and Tennessee between 1877 and 1906. Hutchins was among the last African Americans to graduate from the University of South Carolina School of Law in the brief window during Reconstruction when the school was open to Black students and the first Black attorney admitted to practice in Georgia. He practiced law and participated in local politics in Georgia and Tennessee, served a single term (1887-1888) in the Tennessee General Assembly as one of its last Black members before an era of entrenched white supremacy that lasted until 1965, and advocated for the interests of African Americans. He called for reparations and attempted to identify or create a separate homeland for Blacks. He was a member of the defense team in the 1906 appeal on civil rights grounds by Ed Johnson of a conviction of rape, a case which reached the Supreme Court before it was halted by Johnson's murder by lynching in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
George Waltham Bell was an American doctor who served in the Arkansas Senate from 1891 to 1895. He was a graduate of Lincoln University in Pennsylvania. He served as president of Southland College.
Isaac George Bailey was an educator, Baptist minister, and member of the Arkansas legislature. He served in the Arkansas House of Representatives in 1885, representing Desha County. His photograph was taken as one of the 1885 Arkansas House members. The caption says he was a Republican and Tillar Station was his post office.
Carl R. Polk was a farmer, state legislator, and judge in Arkansas. He was born a slave in Arkansas. He represented Jefferson County, Arkansas, in the Arkansas House of Representatives in 1871 and 1881.
Anderson Ebberson was an American politician.
James E. Bish was a state legislator in Illinois. He served in the Illinois House of Representatives from 1895 to 1897. He wrote Past, Present, and the Future of the Negro.
The Ninety-Third Arkansas General Assembly is the legislative body of the state of Arkansas in 2021 and 2022. The Arkansas Senate and Arkansas House of Representatives were both controlled by the Republicans. In the Senate, 28 senators were Republicans and 7 were Democrats. In the House, 78 representatives were Republicans and 22 were Democrats.
Thomas R. Kersh was a state legislator in Arkansas. A Republican, he represented Lincoln County, Arkansas in the Arkansas House of Representatives in 1885 and 1887. According to the captioning from his 1885 House photograph he was 38 years old, was a native of South Carolina, had lived in Arkansas for 18 years, was a Republican, worked a Baptist Minister, and his post office was in Varner's Station.
Joseph B. Brooks was a state legislator in Arkansas. He represented Lafayette County, Arkansas in the Arkansas House of Representatives in 1885. According to the captioning from an 1885 photograph of Arkansas representatives he was born in Missouri, was a Baptist minister, and his post office was in Lewisville, Arkansas. It states he was 45 in 1885 and was a Republican.
Patrick T. Price was a state legislator in Arkansas. He represented Lee County, Arkansas in the Arkansas House of Representatives in 1877 as a Republican. His fellow Lee County representative was Crockett Brown.
