Barbara Lett-Simmons

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Barbara Lett-Simmons
Born
Barbara Lett

(1927-06-04)June 4, 1927
Washington, D. C., U.S.
Alma materWestern Michigan University
OccupationPolitician
Known forfaithless elector in 2000 US Presidential Election
Political partyDemocratic Party
SpouseSamuel J. Simmons
ChildrenDavid C. Simmons
Robert A. Simmons

Barbara Lett-Simmons (June 4, 1927 – December 22, 2012)

Electoral College
.

Early life

Lett-Simmons was born in

Washington, D. C. in 1962, then worked as an elementary school teacher in Montgomery County, Maryland, until 1965.[2] She worked as an educational coordinator for the United Planning Organization, a community services and empowerment organization and for a District of Columbia poverty program.[2] She was also the host of a local radio talk show and a cable television program.[2]

Lett-Simmons was a consultant helping to lead the search that led to the appointment of Barbara D. Sizemore as District of Columbia superintendent of schools in 1973.[2] She was elected to the District of Columbia board of education in 1973, in which she served from 1974 to 1986.[2]

Tenure as DC Education Board Member

On April to October 1978, Lett-Simmons was the subject of a drama of operatic proportions, when the school board meetings were held to look at the future of superintendent Barbara A. Sizemore, who was appointed in 1973.[2] She was a defender of Sizemore.[2] The superintendent, Sizemore was fired and was replaced by Vincent E. Reed.[2] Lett-Simmons wrote a letter to The Washington Post, in which she complained about a travesty of justice and questioned whether the newspaper’s editorial board opposed Sizemore because she was black and female.[2]

In 1977, she said, "For years people wanted to suggest politics was a nasty word".[2] Her opinion said, "the schools are the most significant institution in society, and necessarily education must be politicized".[2]

In 1978, Lett-Simmons helped to launch a piano competition for District of Columbia public school students.[2]

In 1982, she criticized a plan for a closing school, saying it favored schools in predominately white sections of the city.[2] Lett-Simmons often clashed with school superintendents and other board members.[2]

Lett-Simmons was defeated for re-election in the District of Columbia board of education in 1985.[2]

She was part of a vanguard of public officials who sought to leave their mark on the city.[2] Lett-Simmons aims were to broaden opportunities for inner city children, expand vocational training and make the schools more accountable to residents.[2]

Political career

She was a delegate to the

delegate in Congress which she lost to Eleanor Holmes Norton.[2]

Faithless elector

A Democratic elector from the

lack of a voting representative in Congress.[3]

Lett-Simmons's Electoral College abstention, the first since

1864, was intended to protest what Lett-Simmons referred to as the federal district's "colonial status".[3]

Lett-Simmons described her blank ballot as an act of civil disobedience, not an act of a faithless elector; Lett-Simmons supported Gore and said she would have voted for him if she had thought he had a chance to win.[3]

Family

She was the widow of Samuel J. Simmons, who died in 2003,

Washington, D. C.[2] She had a brother and granddaughter.[2]

Death

Lett-Simmons died on December 22, 2012, at age 85 in

Washington Hospital Center.[2] Her son, David C. Simmons said she had a heart ailment.[2]

On January 3, 2013, many people[quantify] gathered at Shiloh Baptist Church to pay tribute to Lett-Simmons.[4] Mayor of the District of Columbia, Vincent C. Gray urged people in the gathering to follow Lett-Simmons example, stating, "If you want to celebrate Barbara’s legacy, do it by standing up and fighting until we get statehood."[4]

References

  1. ^ "Barbara Lett Simmons Remembered as Fighter for D.C. | The Afro-American Newspapers | Your Community. Your History. Your News". Archived from the original on 2013-01-29. Retrieved 2013-01-28.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa Schudel, Matt (27 December 2012). "Barbara Lett Simmons, former D.C. school board member, dies at 85". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 31 December 2012. Retrieved 28 July 2013.
  3. ^ a b c Stout, David (December 19, 2000). "The 43rd President: The Electoral College; The Electors Vote, and the Surprises Are Few". The New York Times. Retrieved November 30, 2009. But it was Mr. Gore who suffered an erosion today. Barbara Lett Simmons, a Gore elector from the District of Columbia, left her ballot blank to protest what she called the capital's "colonial status" – its lack of a voting representative in Congress.
  4. ^ a b Valencia Mohammed. Activist Barbara Lett Simmons Celebrated. AFRO. January 9, 2013. From Internet Archive

External links

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