Sen. Tim Scott is part of a very small community of African-Americans who have served in the U.S. Senate, but that doesn’t mean these figures haven’t had an impact.
In honor of Black History Month, the South Carolina Republican is convening a panel — to which all living black senators of the past and present have been invited.
Former Democratic senators Mo Cowan, Roland Burris and Carol Mosely Braun have agreed to attend and African-American Senate chaplain Barry Black is scheduled to moderate.
President Barack Obama (who represented Illinois in the Senate from 2005 to 2008), sitting senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) and 94-year-old Massachusetts Republican Ed Brooke were also invited but don’t appear to be attending.
Reconstruction-era senators Hiram Rhodes Revels and Blanche Bruce (both Republicans from Mississippi) are both to be honored, according to Scott’s office.
The event, “Honoring Our Past and Celebrating Our Future: Discussing Personal Journeys and a Nation’s Progress with America’s Black Senators,” will take place Feb. 25