Correlation of the Number of African American Congresswomen and Their Higher Educational Attainment

Abstract

The black women’s share in the US Congress in 2023 is low compared to the US Congress’ total number of members. Additionally, the realisation that this is occurring after more than half a century since 1969 when Shirley Chisholm was the first and only black Congresswoman to be elected, makes us reflect upon the possibility of any existing related phenomena. Moreover, nearly quarter of the African American women had a bachelor’s degree or higher in 2020, a matter that raises the need to try to connect the dots between the higher educational accomplishment of Black women and their political participation in the Congress from 1969 to the present. Therefore, this work is going to try to find out whether there is a correlation between the African American women’s higher educational attainment and their political participation in the US Congress from 1969 to the present.