Adam Clayton Powell Jr. elected to Congress from Harlem

In 1944 Adam Clayton Powell Jr. won election to the U.S. House of Representatives from New York's 22nd Congressional District (Harlem), becoming the first Black congressman elected from the state of New York. Pastor of Abyssinian Baptist Church, Powell served from 1945 to 1971 and became one of the most powerful legislators of his era as chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee.