Black History: Black Senators and Governors

(Reuters) - Democrat Barack Obama won Tuesday's U.S. presidential election and will become the first African American president.

Obama is only America's fifth black senator.

The following list of African American senators and governors is divided into two parts -- those who served during the so called Reconstruction era that followed the Civil War and those who followed a landmark voting act in 1965:

SENATORS:

Hiram Revels -- elected in 1870 to the U.S. Senator as a Republican from Mississippi, where there was a black majority after the Civil War. Served until 1871.

Blanche Bruce -- elected in 1875 as a Republican from Mississippi. Served until 1881.

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Edward Brooke -- A Massachusetts Republican, served between 1967 and 1979.

Carol Moseley Braun -- An Illinois Democratic senator between 1993 and 1999.

Barack Obama -- Became the junior senator from Illinois in 2005.

GOVERNORS:

Pinckney Pinchback - served as Republican governor of Louisiana for 35 days starting in December 1872 after the previous governor was impeached.

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Douglas Wilder - a Democrat, he served one term as governor of Virginia from 1990. He was the country's first elected black governor.

Deval Patrick - was elected Democratic governor of Massachusetts in 2006.

David Paterson - the lieutenant governor of New York became Democratic governor in March when Eliot Spitzer resigned because of a sex scandal.