we get our first african-american woman, shirley chisolm in 1969. but more specifically to the voting rights act which protects voters in districts that had -- where they had a hard time registering previously because of local laws and tate laws and disenfranchisement. we had the first southern members elected since reconstruction, andrew young from georgia and barbara jordan from texas. and as the numbers of african-americans in congress increase, one thing that this allows that core group to do is to create an issues caucus. so in 1971 we have the formation of the congressional black caucus, which is a group of roughly a dozen members at that point. but it is able to exercise some power as a voting block and as a -- as a organization which educates members on issues that are important to the black community nationally. and so the black caucus becomes involved very early on in things like opposing apartheid in south africa and building momentum to pass a holiday to commemorate martin luther king's birthday and inside of the institution, too, it is