Alabama U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell is a living embodiment of 54th Congressional Black Caucus Foundation (CBCF) Annual Legislative Conference in Washington, D.C. from Sept. 24-28: “Made For This Moment: Power, Policy & Progress.”
“Black America is under threat in the second Donald Trump presidency,” said Sewell, chair of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation board of directors. “Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) is under attack and DOGE is cutting the jobs of hardworking people. He is attacking the vulnerable communities that Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) members represent and that is why this Annual Legislative Conference is so important. This is the first large gathering of its type since 2024 and our people need to be energized and to work collectively to make change.”
The foundation is a 501C3 nonprofit designed to create and implement programs and initiatives that the Congressional Black Caucus champions. The Annual Legislative Conference is a major activity of the foundation, bringing in tens of thousands of people throughout the world to Washington to discuss issues facing people across the African diaspora.
“The conference advocates and educates Black leadership serving a global Black community,” Sewell told The Informer. “There are lots of workshops and brain trusts with experts from almost every field. The topics that are explored deal with the various problems Black people in America and the world face.”
Who is Terri Sewell?
The first Black woman to represent Alabama in Congress, Sewell has served in the U.S. House of Representatives since 2011.
While she was born 60 years ago in Huntsville, Alabama, Sewell spent much of her formative years in Selma, a city that was the heart of the 1965 battle for voting rights in the U.S.
Sewell’s Seventh congressional district includes many predominantly Black neighborhoods and municipalities in Alabama and cities such as Tuscaloosa and Birmingham.
The first Black valedictorian of Selma High School, Sewell received a bachelor’s degree from Princeton University, where she befriended future first lady Michelle Obama and St. Hilda’s College, Oxford where she became close to Susan Rice, a District resident who would become a U.S. United Nations ambassador and national security to President Barack Obama.
She was also a schoolmate of Obama’s at Harvard Law School, where she received a juris doctorate. While pursuing her education, she interned for Alabama U.S. Senators Richard Shelby and Howell Heflin.
“I have known Terri since law school, and she has always been a strong voice and tireless advocate for the people of Alabama,” Obama told the Alabama Political Reporter in April 2014.
Her professional career included becoming a securities lawyer for Davis, Polk & Wardell and a public finance attorney for Maynard, Cooper & Gale, where Sewell became the first Black woman to make partner. She decided to enter politics when she heard Obama give a speech about the importance of public service in 2007.
Sewell ran and won the Democratic primary and the general election in 2010– not only becoming a barrier breaker in that role as an African American, but one of the first women elected in a regular election by that state’s voters.
“I decided to get into politics because I am a daughter of Selma,” Sewell said. “My city has its place in history. My mom served on the Selma city council, and she was an amazing role model. I had a community that nourished me and grew up in an environment of public service.”
Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin, has emphasized the strength of Sewell’s leadership and work in Congress, urging voters in his city to send her back to Washington on Election Day last year.
“You all should vote for Terri Sewell,” said Woodfin. “She represents us well. We should have her continue to represent us in the Congress.”
In the House, Sewell sits on the influential Ways & Means Committee and is the ranking member of the Subcommittee on Oversight. She is also a member of the House Administration Committee and serves as the top Democrat on the Subcommittee on Elections.
The Alabama congresswoman is the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus Voting Rights Task Force and is co-chair of both the Congressional Voting Rights Caucus and the New Democrat Coalition Health Care Task Force.
In addition, Sewell is the author of the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2025, which would restore the Voting Rights Act to its fullest power by reinstating the requirement for jurisdictions with a racist history to have their laws and practices cleared by the U.S. Department of Justice before changes can take place.
“Serving with John Lewis in the Congress taught me that it was alright to get in ‘good trouble,’” said Sewell, about the late Alabama-born leader, who represented Georgia in Congress. “The bill in his name will restore protections of the Voting Rights Act. That bill was a hard fight that was won.”
Sewell also is authoring a bill that would make civil rights legend Rosa Parks’ birthday a national holiday.
“Dec. 1 is Rosa Park Day,” said Sewell. “One act of defiance sparked a movement. There is no national holiday honoring a woman, and she should be the first. I make it my business to honor luminaries in my district and she is one.”
Praise for Sewell’s Work
Even though Sewell is one of 435 voting members of the House, her work has not gone unnoticed. While Sewell has distinguished herself as a champion of African Americans, women and people of low incomes, she has also made a mark on rural communities.
“Sewell has emerged as champion for the electric cooperatives that serve the rural residents she represents,” according to an August 2021 piece in Rural Electric Magazine.
The magazine explained Sewell played a pivotal role in supporting co-ops as the lead Democrat House sponsor of the RURAL Act, a bipartisan bill stopping co-ops from losing their tax-exempt status when they accept government grants to rebuild after natural disasters, provide broadband service to rural communities or develop clean energy projects.
From her work with the RURAL Act, according to the magazine, Sewell received the 2020 Eminent Service Award from the Alabama Rural Electric Association.
“Congresswoman Sewell remembers her roots of growing up in rural Alabama as she truly represents her district and the state each day,” says Karl Rayborn, president and CEO of the association.
Obama has also attested to Sewell’s dedication and political acumen and said so in one of her bids for re-election.
“In Congress, Terri has stood by me through the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, and we’ve stood up to Republicans who’ve tried to roll back our progress time and time again,” the former president said in 2014. “Terri has been working tirelessly to promote job creation and investment in skills training and workforce development.”
More than 11 years later, Sewell is still fighting hard for the people of Alabama, marginalized communities, and equal rights for all Americans. She looks forward to encouraging the thousands gathering in Washington, D.C. for this year’s CBCF Annual Legislative Conference to also work toward equity and justice for all.
“John Lewis told us ‘to keep your eye on the prize’,” said Sewell. “We continue to have the will to fight. Progress is elusive and every generation has to fight. Every fighter needs to replenish and that is what this conference does for those in the struggle.”
