HerStory: FAMU grads Gwen Cherry and Carrie Meek helped change Florida for the better

Rep. Gwen S. Cherry, Esq.

In honor of Women's History Month, we honor two of our own Gwen Saywer Cherry, Esq. and Carrie Pittman Meek.  Both Cherry and Meek blazed new trails across Florida's political landscape to help level the playing field for women and fight for racial and social justice during a time when it was neither easy nor fashionable.

Cherry became the first Black woman elected to the Florida Legislature where she fought for the right of minorities and women. During her legislative career introducing several bills, including the legalization of abortions for women, proposals to create federally funded child- care centers and abolition of capital punishment. She introduced the state’s first Equal Rights Amendment bill in 1972. 

She was a trailblazer in women’s and human rights serving four terms until her untimely death in an auto accident in Tallahassee in 1979.

She earned a bachelors’ degree in biology and chemistry from FAMU in 1946, and a master’s degree from New York University. She then became the first black woman to enroll in University of Miami’s School of Law, later completing her law degree at Florida A&M’s College of Law in 1965. She became the first black woman to pass the Florida Bar exam and practice law in Dade County.

On June 5, 2008, the FAMU College of Law, in Orlando, Florida, announced the dedication of the Gwendolyn Sawyer Cherry, Esquire Lecture Hall, which will be used for classrooms and practices for mock trial competitions.
 

Rep. Carrie P. Meek

In 1979, Carrie Pittman Meek, ran in a special election to fill the Miami-Dade seat left vacant by Cherry upon her death. Meek easily beat 12 out candidates, and was reelected to the Florida House of Representatives in 1980. 
 
Meek picked up on many of the issues that Cherry had championed fighting for women’s and human rights, and to improve the plight of Black Floridians.  Meek was a leader in creating Florida’s Black Business Investment Corp, and led the effort to expand affordable housing and community health clinics.
 
In 1982, Meek became the first Black woman elected to the Florida Senate where she served until 1992 when she became the first Black Floridian elected to Congress from Florida.

Both Cherry and Meek were pioneers in Florida's fight for racial justice by changing the state's discriminatory policies and laws.