Pioneering Md. Delegate, Educator Lena Lee, 100

By Yvonne Shinhoster Lamb
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, August 28, 2006; B06

Lena K. Lee, a former teacher and lawyer who entered politics at 60 and became one of the first African American women elected to the Maryland General Assembly, died Aug. 24 at her home in Baltimore. She was 100.

She served in the House of Delegates from 1967 to 1982. Published descriptions often noted her slight physique, but that did not stop her from winning a reputation in the legislature as "The Fearless One." She spent more than three decades as an educator and was an advocate for teachers' rights, curriculum development and improvement in teacher salaries.

The daughter of a coal miner, she was born Lena King in Sumter County, Ala. Her father was a miners' activist who also worked as a chauffeur and butler to earn extra money. She said in 1995 that her father, Samuel Sylvester King, insisted that she do her best.

"I was always taught by my father that I was meant to make a contribution to my community and country," she told the Baltimore Afro-American. "He held us to very high standards and insisted that we succeed."

She lived in Alabama, Illinois and Pennsylvania, as her father traveled in search of work as a miner. She received a scholarship for teacher training at what is now Cheyney University of Pennsylvania. Her first teaching position was in Annapolis. She moved to Baltimore in 1931 to teach sixth grade.

She received a bachelor's degree from what is now Morgan State University in 1939. Because of her race, she was not allowed to go to graduate school at the University of Maryland, and the state paid for her and other African Americans to attend out-of-state universities. She traveled by train on weekends to New York, eventually graduating from New York University in 1947.

"But the time you got to New York, you were worn out," she recalled once, "and of course we couldn't ride the Pullmans. This great country actually tolerated that."

Later, she enrolled in the University of Maryland law school. In 1952, she became the third woman to receive a law degree there. Mrs. Lee, who was inducted into the National Bar Association's Hall of Fame in 1995, said it was natural for her to go into law because of her activist background.

"A lot of people told me that I could use my speaking skills and my ability to reason to help people," she said in 1995. "But I found that people were very intimidated by strong black women. In my first law jobs I was mostly given domestic cases, but I didn't let that deter me."

Mrs. Lee continued to be active in education as she practiced law. She served as principal of Henry H. Garnett Elementary School in Baltimore from 1947 until 1964, when she retired.

She entered politics in 1966 when she was drafted to run for the state legislature. She represented the 4th District, which became the 44th, for 15 years.

Mrs. Lee's accomplishments included assisting Morgan State in acquiring university status and saving Baltimore's Orchard Street Church, which was a safe house on the Underground Railroad, from being destroyed. She also fought for the creation of a no-fault divorce in Maryland.

She was known by her colleagues for fighting what she considered bad bills in committees, or on the floor of the House of Delegates if necessary.

Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.), who was elected in 1982 to Mrs. Lee's old seat, credits her with giving him his start in politics. She raised money and campaigned for him, he said.

Last year, Cummings sponsored legislation to name a U.S. Post Office in Baltimore for Mrs. Lee.

He said: "Like the great Rosa Parks, Delegate Lee was a woman who demonstrated the power of one. She was a champion of justice and a dynamic legislator who used her skills to selflessly better the world around her."

Her husband, Robert L. Lee, died more than 40 years ago, according to published reports.

She leaves no immediate survivors.

© 2006 The Washington Post Company