(Reuters) -U.S. Consultant Sheila Jackson Lee, a powerful progressive voice within the Democratic Get together who was outspoken on African-American and ladies’s rights, has died, her household posted on X late on Friday.
Jackson Lee of Texas introduced final month she had pancreatic most cancers and was present process remedy. She was 74, in line with U.S. media.
“The road ahead will not be easy, but I stand in faith that God will strengthen me,” she mentioned in saying the prognosis.
“A fierce champion of the people, she was affectionately and simply known as ‘Congresswoman’ by her constituents in recognition of her near-ubiquitous presence and service to their daily lives for more than 30 years,” her household mentioned within the assertion.
She was lively all through her profession in selling laws geared toward addressing social justice, financial inequality and public well being issues.
Jackson Lee, who represented elements of Houston, launched a laws within the Home of Representatives to make “Juneteenth” a federal vacation commemorating the tip of the authorized enslavement of Black Individuals.
The vacation marks the day in 1865 when a Union basic knowledgeable a gaggle of enslaved individuals in Texas that they’d been made free two years earlier by President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation in the course of the Civil Conflict.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a conservative Republican, posted on X that his spouse “Cecilia and I’ll without end keep in mind Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee.
“She was a proud Texan and a tireless advocate for the people of Houston. Her legacy of public service and dedication to Texas will live on,” Abbott mentioned.
Jackson Lee served on a number of Home committees, together with judiciary, homeland safety and funds.
