Carrie P Meek

Carrie Meek was the first Black person to represent Florida in the House since Reconstruction, and in five terms she fought for programs to create jobs. died on Sunday November 28 2021 at her home in Miami. She was 95. Before going to Washington, Ms. Meek served in the Florida House of Representatives from 1979 to 1983 and in the State Senate from 1983 to 1993. She was the first Black woman elected to that chamber. Carrie Pittman was born on April 29, 1926, in Tallahassee, Fla., the youngest of 12 children of Willie and Carrie Pittman. Ms. Meek was a sprinter in high school and played basketball both in high school and at Florida A&M, a historically Black college in Tallahassee, where she earned a degree in biology and physical education in 1946. At the time, Black students were banned from Florida graduate programs, so she enrolled at the University of Michigan, where she received a master’s degree in public health and physical education. Ms. Meek taught at Bethune Cookman, a historically Black college in Daytona Beach, and at Florida A&M. In 1961, she moved to the newly opened Miami-Dade Junior College, which initially had separate campuses for Black students and white students. She taught health and physical education and remained at the college for three decades in teaching and administrative posts. Ms. Meek’s two former husbands, both of whom she divorced, are dead. Survivors include a son, Kendrick, who served in the Florida House of Representatives and the State Senate and was elected in 2002 to the congressional seat being vacated by his mother. He served four terms before giving up his seat in an unsuccessful run for the Senate. She is also survived by two daughters, Sheila Davis Kinui and Lucia Davis-Raiford; seven grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren. (mother of Kendrick Meek), a Representative from Florida; born in Tallahassee, Leon County, Fla., April 29, 1926; B.S., Florida A&M University, Tallahassee, Fla., 1946; M.S., University of Michigan, 1948; educational administrator; educational consultant; board member, Health System-Health Planning Council, 1972-1975; chair, city of Miami, Fla., Park for People Program, 1973-1974; board member, Minority Business Enterprise Committee on Transportation, 1978-1979; member of the Florida state house of representatives, 1979-1983; member of the Florida state senate, 1983-1993; elected as a Democrat to the One Hundred Third and to the four succeeding Congresses (January 3, 1993-January 3, 2003); not a candidate for reelection to the One Hundred Eighth Congress in 2002.