02/24/2023
In honor of Black History Month, we’re highlighting some historical figures who continued making important contributions well into their senior years.
Former U.S. Rep. Carrie Meek was 66 years old when she was elected to represent Florida in Congress in 1992, becoming the first Black Floridian to do so since the Reconstruction era. The daughter of a sharecropper and the granddaughter of a woman who was born enslaved, Meek was a fierce advocate for South Florida’s Black communities, immigrants, and the working poor.
She is a tremendous example of someone who never stopped advancing throughout her life, even in the face of both racial and age discrimination. In fact, when one of her opponents in the 1992 Congressional race tried to turn her age into a campaign issue, Meek saw it as an advantage. “He should continue to say that I’m too old,” she said, “because the folks that are going to get out and vote are going to be my age or around my age, and they’re told every day they’re too old. He’s doing nothing but helping us.”
She never lost a reelection race and went on to serve in Congress for 10 years. She retired from politics in 2003 at the age of 76 but continued to run the Carrie Meek Foundation until 2015. Learn more about Carrie Meek and her life at the links below:
https://bit.ly/3gDcuLJ
https://bit.ly/3BcrnOF
