Attorney Annie Brown Kennedy, the first black woman to serve in the North Carolina state legislature, has died at the age of 98, her family said.
Kennedy, the first Democrat to join the House in 1979 to fill a vacant seat, died of natural causes on Tuesday at his home in Winston Salem, according to one of his sons, Harvey Kennedy. A plaque honors her pioneering work.
“She was a wonderful mother,” Kennedy told the Winston-Salem Journal. “She was a trailblazer.”
Kennedy failed to run to retain his House seat in 1980, but was selected to return to Raleigh two years later. She also served the Chamber of Commerce for 10 years. Her son said he worked to get paid family leave passed and was successful in preventing Winston-Salem State University’s nursing program from being closed by other legislators.
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Originally from Atlanta, Annie Kennedy graduated from Spelman College and Howard University Law School, according to her written biography.
Her son said she was the first African-American female attorney in North Carolina and also the first female attorney in Forsyth County.She and husband Harold Kennedy Jr. have two of three sons. It has created a legal partnership focused on family law and civil litigation, including people, the paper reported.
Annie Brown Kennedy, the first black woman to serve in the North Carolina Legislature, died of natural causes at the age of 98. Kennedy entered the House of Representatives for her first time in 1979.
Former Gov. Jim Hunt, who formally appointed Kennedy to a legislative seat in 1979, said she “had a real bad name when it came to giving people a chance… She was a bonehead about it.” I was really proud to have had the opportunity to appoint Kennedy to her.”
U.S. Representative Alma Adams, DN.C., said Kennedy was a leader when he became a state legislator in the 1990s.
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“She guided me. I admired her because she was a great woman, a great lawyer, a consummate politician,” Adams said. He was sincere, kind, and supportive.He never spoke loudly, but he always spoke forcefully.”
