The Democrat had represented her Houston-based district and the nation’s fourth-largest city since 1995. She had previously had breast cancer and announced…
Longtime U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas , who helped lead federal efforts to protect women from domestic violence and recognize Juneteenth as a national holiday, has died. She was 74.
Jackson Lee was “a towering figure in our politics,” President Joe Biden said in a statement Saturday. “Always fearless, she spoke truth to power and represented the power of the people of her district in Houston with dignity and grace.”“I had the honor of working with her during her nearly 30 years in Congress,” Biden said. “No matter the issue — from delivering racial justice to building an economy for working people — she was unrelenting in her leadership.
“She was just a rare, rare jewel of a person who relentlessly gave everything she had to make sure others had what they needed. That was Sheila,” he said. Jackson Lee quickly established herself as fierce advocate for women and minorities, and a leader for House Democrats on many social justice issues, from policing reform to reparations for descendants of enslaved people. She led the first rewrite of the recognized as the first new federal holiday since Martin Luther King, Jr. Day was established in 1986. The holiday marks the day in 1865 that the last enslaved African Americans in Galveston, Texas, finally learned of their freedom.
Rep. James Clyburn of South Carolina called her “a tenacious advocate for civil rights and a tireless fighter, improving the lives of her constituents.” “As a powerful voice in the Congress for our Constitution and human rights, she fought tirelessly to advance fairness, equity and justice for all," Pelosi said.
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