Augustus F. Hawkins

Augustus Freeman "Gus" Hawkins (August 31, 1907 – November 10, 2007) was a prominent American Democratic Party politician and a figure in the history of Civil Rights and organized labor. He served as the first African American from California in the United States Congress, where he sponsored the Humphrey-Hawkins Full Employment Act. Hawkins was very fair-skinned and was often taken to be a person of solely white ancestry. Hawkins was born in Shreveport, Louisiana. He later moved to California, where he was a Democratic member of the State Assembly from 1935 until 1963. He was also a delegate to the National Conventions of 1940, 1944 and 1960 as well as an electoral college presidential elector from California in 1944. Hawkins attended...