including some of the most coveted committees; appropriations, ways and means, shirley chism went on rules, and she was the first african-american on rules, and other influential panels such as judiciary and armed services. and i know mr. dellums has an interesting armed services story about getting on to that committee which i'll let him tell. mr. dellums eventually chaired that committee, and it made him one of 16 african-americans who served, chaired a congressional committee in the post-1971 period. now, to give you a little perspective, between 1870 and 1971 there were just three african-americans who chaired panels. and for the first time black members in congress rose into party leadership ranks during this era. bill gray as democratic majority whip in the '80s, j.c. watts of oklahoma who became a republican conference chairman in the late '90s and most recently james clyburn of south carolina who served as democratic whip. as well part of this story, too, is that there were more african-american women elected to congress. shirley chism of new york was the first elected in 196