Robert C. Weaver became the first Black U.S. Cabinet secretary when President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed him secretary of Housing and Urban Development in 1966.
Weaver had already built a long career in housing policy and civil rights. He served in federal agencies during the New Deal and later advised President John F. Kennedy on housing. His appointment gave the newly established Cabinet department its first secretary.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development was created in 1965, and Weaver took office in January 1966. He directed federal programs addressing housing shortages, urban development, and discrimination in housing markets.
A common mix-up is confusing Weaver with Thurgood Marshall, who became the first Black U.S. solicitor general in 1967 and the first Black Supreme Court justice later that year. Weaver’s distinction concerns Cabinet rank, not the judiciary.