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Willie Brown

Shirley Chisholm

John Conyers, Jr.

Barbara Jordan

Adam Clayton Powell, Jr.

Charles Rangel

Sonny Stitt

Great Lives from History: African Americans

Mervyn Dymally

by Howard Bromberg

Politician

Dymally was the first African American state senator in California, the first African American elected to statewide office in California, and the first foreign-born African American member of Congress. He publicized examples of harassment of African American politicians.

Area of achievement: Government and politics

Early Life

Mervyn Malcolm Dymally (MUR-vihn DI-mah-lee) was born on May 12, 1926, in what is now Trinidad and Tobago. His father, Hamid Dymally, was an Indian businessman. His mother, Andreid Richardson, was a black Trinidadian. His father was Muslim, while his mother was Catholic; Mervyn Dymally eventually became an Anglican. His parents separated while he was young.

Dymally attended Cedros Government School and the St. Benedict and Naparima Secondary School. After graduating from high school, he became a journalist with The Vanguard, a labor union newspaper. In 1946, Dymally immigrated to the United States to pursue higher education. He studied at Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Missouri, and Chapman University in Southern California before earning a B.A. in education from California State University, Los Angeles, in 1954.

Upon graduation, Dymally became a special-education teacher in Los Angles public schools and got involved in local politics. He joined the California Young Democrats and became treasurer of that organization. He also worked as a field coordinator for the presidential campaign of John F. Kennedy. In 1969, Dymally earned a Ph.D. in human behavior from the United States International University in San Diego. He married Alice M. Gueno, a fellow teacher. They would have two children, Mark and Lynn.

Life’s Work

In 1962, Dymally ran for the California State Assembly seat representing a district in south Los Angeles. Although he was an underdog, his dynamic speeches gained him the election victory. He was reelected in 1964. Dymally introduced legislation calling for teaching African American history in California’s public schools.

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In 1966, the redrawing of state electoral districts opened up the possibility of a state senate seat for Dymally. Winning the election, he became the first African American state senator in California history. In what he described as the most productive years of his career, Dymally authored a slew of progressive legislation. As the chairman of the Select Committee on Children and Youth, he played a key role in the enactment of the Dymally-Seroti Child Care Construction Act, the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act, the Early Childhood Education Act, and the Child Growth and Development Act. He also was responsible for the Dymally-Waxman Campaign Reform Act and for introducing the Equal Rights Amendment and the Community Property for Women Law. He also served as chairman of the Senate Majority Caucus and of the state’s black caucus.

In California, the lieutenant governor is elected independent of the governor. In 1974, Dymally was elected lieutenant governor of California, becoming the first African American voted into statewide office in California and the first African American independently elected as lieutenant governor in any state. As lieutenant governor, Dymally was one of the most powerful Democrats in the state. A rivalry emerged between Dymally and Los Angeles mayor Tom Bradley as they backed rival candidates in Democratic primaries from 1975 to 1978.

In 1977, Dymally sponsored a state report, “The Dilemma of Black Politics,” which presented examples of African American politicians who had suffered harassment in office. The following year, Dymally suffered what he believed to be a related case of harassment. In the midst of a heated reelection campaign for lieutenant governor, it was rumored that Dymally was about to be indicted by the state attorney general for criminal wrongdoing, a report that apparently had no basis in fact. Dymally was defeated in the election.

In 1980, Dymally won a seat in the U.S. Congress representing southern Los Angeles County. His district contained some of the poorest neighborhoods in the state. He was the first foreign-born African American to serve as a member of Congress. As such, he felt an obligation to work on issues relating to immigration, foreign affairs, and the treatment of ethnic minorities in the United States. Dymally introduced legislation to compensate Japanese Americans who were interned during World War II and to obtain citizenship for Filipinos who fought for the United States during World War II. He advocated for other immigrant groups as well and made numerous trips overseas as part of his committee assignments on foreign affairs. Dymally was reelected to Congress three times before retiring in 1993. In 2002, he returned to politics, winning election to the California State Assembly, where he served until 2008.

Significance

Dymally’s list of political firsts does not by itself capture his brash, dynamic persona. He was a political powerhouse in California. The central focus of his political career was a desire to serve needy populations, including children, immigrants, and the persecuted in foreign nations. His outspokenness on harassment of African American public officials was seen alternately as useful and self-serving. After a distinguished career in the state senate and U.S. Congress, Dymally returned to elected office in the state assembly at the age of seventy-six.

Further Reading

1 

Horne, Gerald. Fire This Time: The Watts Uprising and the 1960’s. Charlottesville: University of Virginia, 1995. Comprehensive account of the historic 1965 riots in Watts and their aftermath, with attention to the subsequent investigations by Dymally, state assemblyman for the Watts district.

2 

Manning, Jennifer, and Colleen Shogan. African American Members of the United States Congress: 1870-2009. Washington, D.C.: BiblioGov, 2010. A publication of the Congressional Research Service. Provides a statistical overview of African Americans in Congress with charts, tables, committee assignments, and length of service.

3 

Schultz, Bud. The Price of Dissent: Testimonies to Political Repression in America. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2001. Description of targets of political repression in the United States. Includes a short autobiography by Dymally and his account of the false rumor of his pending indictment in the 1978 election.

4 

Sonenshein, Raphael. Politics in Black and White: Race and Power in Los Angeles. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1993. With extensive tables detailing voting, demographics, and polls in Los Angeles politics. Winner of the 1994 Ralph J. Bunche Award of the American Political Science Association, this source also chronicles the rivalry between Dymally and Los Angeles mayor Tom Bradley.

5 

Weissman, Stephan. A Culture of Deference: Congress’ Failure of Leadership in Foreign Policy. New York: BasicBooks, 1996. An indictment of Congress for abandoning its traditional, active role in foreign policy in the post-World War II years. Explores Dymally’s dedication to promoting African American businesses and investments in Africa.

6 

Wisniewski, Matthew, ed. Black Americans in Congress, 1870-2007. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 2008. An official publication of the Congressional Office of History and Preservation, this massive volume profiles the tenures of 121 African Americans who have served in Congress.

Citation Types

Type
Format
MLA 9th
Bromberg, Howard. "Mervyn Dymally." Great Lives from History: African Americans, edited by Carl L. Bankston, Salem Press, 2011. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=GLAA_126958003044.
APA 7th
Bromberg, H. (2011). Mervyn Dymally. In C. L. Bankston (Ed.), Great Lives from History: African Americans. Salem Press. online.salempress.com.
CMOS 17th
Bromberg, Howard. "Mervyn Dymally." Edited by Carl L. Bankston. Great Lives from History: African Americans. Hackensack: Salem Press, 2011. Accessed December 14, 2025. online.salempress.com.