Vue lecture

William L. Clay, Missouri’s First Black Congressman, Dies at 94

A co-founder of the Congressional Black Caucus, he represented St. Louis in the House as an uncompromising liberal Democrat and a forceful advocate for the poor.

© Moorland-Springarn Research Center, Howard University, via CQ Roll Call/Associated Press

“I represent those who are in need of representation,” Representative William L. Clay once said. “I have no intention of representing those powerful interests who walk over powerless people.”
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