Black Women in the Florida Legislature

Paper Summary:

This paper examines the political lives of three of Florida's legislators-Gwendolyn Cherry, Carrie Meek and Arthenia Joyner-all bBlack women who have surpassed tremendous odds and difficulties in order to take their place in the history of the United States.

From the Paper:

"Until recently, Florida was one state that was considered one of the relatively "conservative" states of the South. As Wendy Loquasto stated in her speech delivered at the Ceremonial Legislative Session Honoring the First 150 Florida Women Lawyers, "...because the greatest tribute we could pay to these women is recognition that Florida was a very different place when they came on the legal scene and that Florida is a better place today because of their actions...(Loquasto, 2000)." Thus, when the first African-American woman, Gwen Sawyer Cherry was elected to the Florida Legislature in 1970, many considered (and rightly so) the event to be of immense historical as well as symbolic importance in that an era of clear cut racial division had finally ended."

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