You probably think the story of black people who ran for president begins and ends with Barack Obama. It doesn't. Not even close. Before the 44th president took the oath, dozens of men and women spent decades kicking at a door that seemed permanently locked. Some were serious policy wonks. Others were protest candidates trying to highlight the absurdity of Jim Crow. A few were basically just trying to cause a scene to force the major parties to actually listen. Honestly, the sheer guts it took to file paperwork for the White House when you couldn't even buy a sandwich at a lunch counter in half the country is staggering.
The 19th-Century Trailblazer Nobody Mentions
George Edwin Taylor. Ever heard of him? Most people haven't. In 1904, Taylor ran as the candidate for the National Liberty Party. This wasn't some vanity project. Taylor was a journalist and a labor leader who realized the Republican Party—the "Party of Lincoln"—was starting to take the black vote for granted while doing very little to stop lynchings in the South.
He knew he wouldn't win. Obviously. But he wanted to prove that black voters had options. He essentially laid the blueprint for the next century of political activism. He argued that if you don't have a seat at the table, you're probably on the menu. He got about 2,000 votes, which sounds tiny, but in 1904, with the level of voter suppression happening, it was a miracle he was on the ballot at all.
Shirley Chisholm and the 1972 Earthquake
If Taylor was the blueprint, Shirley Chisholm was the wrecking ball. "Unbought and Unbossed." That wasn't just a catchy slogan; it was how she lived. When she announced her run for the Democratic nomination in 1972, she wasn't just the first black woman to do it. She was the first black person from a major party to make a serious run.
The pushback she got wasn't just from white conservatives. It came from her own colleagues. The Congressional Black Caucus was split. Some thought she was "distracting" from more "electable" candidates. She didn't care. Chisholm took her campaign all the way to the convention in Miami. She ended up with 152 delegates. Think about that for a second. In an era where "Whites Only" signs were still fresh in people's memories, a daughter of immigrants from Brooklyn was standing on a national stage demanding the presidency. She changed the math for every black person who ran for president after her.
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Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow Coalition
Fast forward to the 1980s. Jesse Jackson is the name most people remember before Obama. He ran in 1984 and 1988. His 1988 campaign was a massive deal. He won 13 primaries and caucuses. He wasn't just a "black candidate"—he was a populist. He talked about the "Rainbow Coalition," bringing together poor whites, farmers, displaced factory workers, and people of color.
- In 1988, Jackson got nearly 7 million votes.
- He won the Michigan primary, which absolutely terrified the Democratic establishment.
- He forced the party to change its delegate rules, making it easier for outsiders to compete.
Jackson's runs were the bridge. He proved that a black candidate could build a broad, multi-racial coalition. Without Jesse Jackson's 1988 run, there is arguably no path for Barack Obama in 2008. The infrastructure simply wouldn't have been there.
The Outsiders: From the Panthers to the Republicans
It’s a mistake to think all black people who ran for president were Democrats. History is way messier than that.
Take Eldridge Cleaver. In 1968, while he was a leader in the Black Panther Party, he ran on the Peace and Freedom Party ticket. He was technically too young to hold the office (he was 33), but he ran anyway. It was a middle finger to the establishment. Then you have the Republican side. Senator Edward Brooke of Massachusetts was often discussed as a potential candidate, though he never pulled the trigger on a full campaign. But we did see Alan Keyes run multiple times as a staunch conservative. And of course, Herman Cain and his "9-9-9" tax plan in 2012.
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Cain actually led the Republican polls for a hot minute. It’s easy to forget how much he shook up that primary before his campaign imploded. More recently, Tim Scott and Larry Elder have kept that tradition of black conservatism alive on the national stage.
Why Does This List Keep Growing?
People run for different reasons. For some, it’s about the win. For others, it’s about the platform.
- Lenora Fulani: In 1988, she became the first woman and first African American to get on the ballot in all 50 states. She ran as an independent.
- Dick Gregory: The comedian and activist ran in 1968. He even printed his own dollar bills with his face on them.
- Charlene Mitchell: In 1968, she was the first black woman to run for president, representing the Communist Party.
The Obama Shift and the Post-2008 Reality
When Obama won, the conversation changed. Suddenly, it wasn't a question of if it could happen, but who would be next. In 2020, we saw the most diverse field in history. Kamala Harris, Cory Booker, Deval Patrick. The dynamic had flipped. They weren't "the black candidate"—they were just candidates who happened to be black, navigating a party that now considered the black vote its most loyal constituency.
But here is the nuance: just because a black man won doesn't mean the hurdles disappeared. Ask Kamala Harris. The scrutiny on black candidates—especially black women—remains fundamentally different. They deal with the "electability" trap. It's a circular argument where donors won't give money because they fear the public won't vote for a person of color, and the public thinks the person can't win because they don't see the donor support.
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Common Misconceptions About These Campaigns
- They were all "protest" runs. Wrong. Many, like Jackson and Chisholm, had detailed policy platforms on everything from healthcare to foreign policy in the Middle East.
- They only appealed to black voters. Also wrong. Jackson's 1988 run performed surprisingly well with rural white voters in the Midwest who were tired of "politics as usual."
- They were all liberals. As mentioned with Alan Keyes and Herman Cain, the ideological spectrum among black people who ran for president is as wide as any other group.
What This Means for Future Elections
We are past the era of the "firsts," but we are in the era of "expectations." The roadmap has been built. If you're looking at the current political landscape, the legacy of these candidates is everywhere. It's in the way campaigns organize on the ground. It's in the way the DNC and RNC court minority voters.
If you want to dive deeper into this, don't just look at the winners. The real grit is in the losers. The people who got 1% of the vote but changed the conversation.
Next Steps for the Politically Curious:
- Research the 1904 National Liberty Party platform. It’s wild how many of the issues George Edwin Taylor raised are still being debated today.
- Watch Chisholm’s 1972 announcement speech. It’s a masterclass in political courage.
- Track the FEC filings for 2028. You’ll likely see names you don't recognize yet. Look into their backgrounds; the next "historic" candidate is probably already running a local city council or state legislature somewhere.
- Support non-partisan voting rights organizations. Regardless of who is running, the ability for people to actually cast a ballot is what makes these campaigns meaningful in the first place.
Politics isn't just about the person at the top. It's about the people who spent a century moving the starting line forward so that one day, the line wouldn't be there at all.