Grief, Grace & Gratitude: The Passing of Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee

Source: Thomas Shea / Getty

We’d only just caught our breath after hearing the news last month that Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.  We worried, knowing it was a form of the disease rarely able to be caught in its earlier stages. But still we had hope. How could we not? For 30 years, the Congresswoman had been there for the people of Houston–and for Black people across the nation without falter.

She was loved, looked to and leaned upon throughout her career, walking into rooms that once banned Black women from entering them except to serve white men, with her crown of braids always in tact. It was as if she was telegraphing, don’t play with me and don’t let the degrees fool you. My daddy’s from Brooklyn (which he was).

But last night at about 11:00 pm, the first reports began trickling out: the treasured 74-year-old Congresswoman had taken her final bow.

Her family issued a statement Friday night which said, in part:

Today, with incredible grief for our loss yet deep gratitude for the life she shared with us, we announce the passing of United States Representative Sheila Jackson Lee of the 18th Congressional District of Texas.

The Congresswoman’s cause of death was not disclosed but it would appear that the cancer that invaded her body was particularly fast-moving and virulent. Even still, it was a shock to those who knew and loved her. She had, after all, battled, and overcome, breast cancer a little more than 10 years ago. It deepened her commitment to cancer research, a cause she was likely not as well known for, but perhaps should have been. When Jackson Lee fought for a cause, she did so fearlessly and indefatigable, most recently going to battle against those who sought to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

A Soldier of Love

The Congressional Black Caucus, which Rep. Jackson Lee chaired for years, welcomes new members Source: BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI / Getty

The Congresswoman, who moved to Houston in 1987, serving as a municipal judge before running for office, was part of the American delegation to the 2001 World Conference on Racism in South Africa, and in 2006 she was arrested with four other members of Congress for protesting the ethnic cleansing in Darfur.

She urged the U.S. to have better relations with Venezuela, which the State Department–apparently thinking it was still the 1980s and the Cold War was still a thing–opposed. The reason they gave for not engaging Venezuela when it could have made such a difference was that they were friendly with Cuba and also Iran (and Iran, which the US has been in a sort of on-again, off-again romance with).

She stood defiantly against former New York Congressman Peter King’s attacks on Muslims and Muslim Americans; and voted to repeal the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell law. A staunch supporter of legislation to protect women against violence and immigrants, in 2019, she also helped expand federal protections afforded by the 1964 Civil Rights Act to include banning discrimination based on sexual orientation and identity.

Perhaps most movingly, one of Sheila Jackson Lee’s final successful battles centered her constituents but impacted the nation. She successfully led the fight to have Juneteenth finally recognized as a federal holiday.

A Voice for the Voiceless

Shelia Jackson Lee, who represented Houston, TX for 30 years, was born in Queens, New York on January 12th, 1950. She began her college career at New York University, later transferring to Yale University where she studied political science. She took her Bachelor of Arts from the Ivy League in 1972. Thereafter, Jackson Lee attended law school at The University of Virginia, achieving her Juris Doctor in 1975.  

Along the way, the Congresswoman married Elwyn Lee in 1973, also an attorney and law professor. The couple, who had two children, remained partners in love and life for more than half-a-century, separated only by the Congresswoman’s heartbreaking passing last night. 

Susan L. Taylor knew the Congresswoman for decades Source: Susan Taylor / iOne Digital

Upon hearing the news, Susan L. Taylor, Essence Magazine’s Editor-in-Chief Emerita, and founder and CEO of the National CARES Mentoring Movement, offered the following words:

Sheila Jackson Lee was a brilliant and courageous warrior for justice, and one of the most compelling and well-versed spokespersons for disenfranchised people everywhere. [The women leaders she inspired] will continue carrying the mantle that our beloved sister, now an ancestor, held high.

We who knew The Congresswoman either personally or by deed, know the  powerful accuracy of Ms. Taylor’s words, because for 30 years we have borne witness to Sheila Jackson Lee’s  honoring of the bequeathment offered by another great woman, Shirley Chishom: until the moment she drew her last breath, Sheila Jackson Lee remained unbought and unbossed.

See More:

Juneteenth: The Civil War Was A Black Revolution

George Floyd Justice In Policing Act Reintroduced 4 Years After Notorious Police Murder In Minneapolis

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