Fannie Lewis | |
|---|---|
| Member of Cleveland City Council from Ward 7 | |
| In office January 2, 1980 – August 11, 2008 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1926-06-06)June 6, 1926 Memphis, Tennessee, U.S. |
| Died | August 11, 2008(2008-08-11) (aged 82) Cleveland, Ohio, U.S. |
| Party | Democratic |
Fannie Lewis (June 6, 1926 – August 11, 2008) wasCleveland, Ohio's longest-serving councilwoman and civil rights activist, best known for theFannie Lewis Law requiring government contracts in Cleveland provide for employment of local workers.
In 1986, Lewis was selected to be a member of a delegation of Black female politicians who traveled to China as representatives of the United States. Several members of the delegation included prominent National political figures including Congress Woman Maxine Waters and House Representative Woman Dianne Watson, both of California.
Lewis was born inMemphis, Tennessee. She spent her early years inMarked Tree, Arkansas, before moving to Memphis, where, as a teenager she attended Booker T. Washington High in Memphis, Tennessee. At Booker T. she lettered in two sports, Basketball and Track. During the late Thirties, Lewis, who also excelled in baseball, was on a traveling female Barnstorming team, who, after agreeing to scrimmage an all white female team, were threaten with lynching by white spectators who felt her team was deliberately running up the score on their white opponents. Lewis and her teammates were forced to sprint to their already running pickup to escape the wrath of the white patrons.
As a child, she worked in the fields picking cotton inMarion, Arkansas, where she witnessed a white farmer publicly murder one of her friends from school without facing repercussions. Her schoolteacher, also from Marion, was tied to a tree and burned to death for teaching black children to read.[1]
Lewis, a Democrat, served on theCleveland City Council from January 2, 1980 until her death on August 11, 2008, making her the longest-serving female council member in the history of the city.[2][3] She clashed with established politicians, calling MayorMichael White a demon, CouncilmanJoe Cimperman a Judas Goat, and mayorGeorge Voinovich crazy. She met withGeorge W. Bush in 2002, who stated "I had the honor of listening to a local elected official, Ms. Fannie Lewis, who had some things to say." Lewis was featured in the documentaryNo Umbrella: Election Day in the City, which highlighted her efforts to get more voting machines to her constituents precincts, as they were made to stand in the rain for hours waiting to vote. She was known for advocating the Cleveland School voucher program and for theFannie Lewis Law, a 2003 statute that requires a portion of public works projects in Cleveland to be performed by Cleveland residents.[4][5]