What was the name of the first African American woman to serve in the Florida House of Representatives and in which year was she elected into office?
(Presiding Over a Committee, Fl, May 6th 1977. Credit: Charles Trainor, Historical Museum of Southern Florida.)
After graduating from Florida A&M as a cum laude graduate in law, she went on to serve as the first African American women in the Florida House of Representatives. As a state representative she ushered in new laws pertaining to Equal Rights and chaired the state of Florida’s committee for International Woman’s Year. Tragically, she was killed in a car accident in 1979 in Tallahassee.
Q. What was the name of the first African American woman to serve in the Florida House of Representatives and in which year was she elected into office?
A. Gwen Sawyer Cherry, 1970
Posted at 06:00 AM on May 6, 2010 in History Question of the Week | Permalink
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