African Americans have a long history in the Americas. Their experience in the United States, however, is fraught with historical evidence of oppression and segregation. It has been difficult to eliminate the labels of slavery resulting from their historic entry into the Americas. There are many issues that emerge when considering the experience of African Americans. One of the most important issues that has been widely studied regarding the African American experience is the issue of leadership and politics. For a long time, African American leadership was sidelined until the rise of the civil rights movements starting in the 1950s. Since then, African Americans have exercised their position in the leadership of the United States culminating in the election of current President Barrack Obama, who became the country's first African American president. African American leadership and participation in politics and public institutions are an example of resilience in a hostile environment fraught with segregation and the historical label of slavery. Before delving into the question of leadership and political participation, it is important to operationalize the term African Americans as it will be used in this article and in historical context. African Americans are a group of people with African ancestry but true citizenship of the United States of America (Dorsey, 2007). Their history in Americans began in the 15th century, when plantation agriculture was introduced and they were used to provide cheap labor needed to work on American plantations. During the period of colonization, the American people had established plantation agriculture in most of their colonies. Therefore, the need for workers in the colonies arose and the only solution to ... middle of paper ... illusion, we can therefore say that the African American leadership was persistent and resilient to the obstacles it encountered faced in the century-long development . Works Cited Amadu, K. (2007). African Americans and US Politics: The Gradual Progress of Black Women in Political Representation. New York: Prentice Hall Publishers.Charles, M. (2003). Longer than the String: A Century of African American Activism, 1850-1950. London: Vintage Publishers.Dorsey, A. (2007). Black History is American History: Teaching African American History in the Twenty-First Century. Journal of American History, 93(4): 1171-1177 Lawrence, L. (2007). Black Culture and Black Consciousness: African American Popular Thought from Slavery to Freedom. London: Sage Publishers. Robin, D. G. (2000). To Renew Our World: An African American Story. New York: Prentice Hall Publishers.