U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, a robust progressive voice within the Democratic Social gathering who was an outspoken advocate for the rights of African Individuals and girls, has died, her household stated Friday night time on X.
Jackson Lee, from Texas, introduced final month that he had been recognized with pancreatic most cancers and was present process remedy. He was 74, in response to US media.
“A fierce advocate for the folks, she was affectionately recognized to her constituents merely as ‘Congresswoman’ in recognition of her near-ubiquitous presence and repair to their each day lives for greater than 30 years,” her household stated within the assertion.
Jackson Lee, who represented elements of Houston, launched laws within the Home of Representatives to make Juneteenth a federal vacation commemorating the tip of authorized slavery for black Individuals.
The vacation commemorates the day in 1865 when a Union basic knowledgeable a gaggle of enslaved folks in Texas that that they had been freed two years earlier by President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation throughout the Civil Battle.
