Collins, Cardiss

September 24, 1931

Cardiss Robertson Collins was the first African-American woman to serve in the U.S. Congress. Born in St. Louis, Cardiss Robertson moved with her family to Detroit when she was ten years old. She studied accounting at Northwestern University and in 1958 married George Washington Collins, a local politician. Collins helped organize campaigns for her husband. Her own career in politics began when she became Democratic committeewoman in Chicago's twenty-fourth ward.

After U.S. Congressman George Collins died in 1972, Cardiss Collins resigned her position with the Illinois Department of Revenue, ran for his seat, and won handily. She took office on June 5, 1973. In 1979 she became the first woman to chair the Congressional Black Caucus. Two years later she became the first African American and the first woman to be appointed Democratic whip-at-large. In the mid-1980s she led inquiries into the employment practices of the airline industry. She also investigated college sports and pressed colleges and universities to meet the mandates of Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972 regarding female athletes. The NCAA yielded to her prodding and moved to bring about gender equity in sports. Collins introduced the Non-Discrimination in Advertising Act aimed to correct injustices against minorityowned media. In 1993 she co-authored the Child Safety Protection Act, which set standards for bicycle helmets and required warning labels on potentially dangerous toys.

Throughout her political career, Collins was a strong advocate of civil rights, the rights of women and the poor, and of universal health insurance. She wrote the resolution that designated October as National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

After twenty-three years in Congress, Collins retired in 1996.

See also Congressional Black Caucus; Politics in the United States

Bibliography

Abromowitz, Jack. "Accommodation and Militancy in Negro Life 1876–1916." Ph.D. diss., Columbia University, New York, 1950.

Gaither, Gerald H. Blacks and the Populist Revolt: Ballots and Bigotry in the "New South." Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1977.

Goodwyn, Lawrence C. "The Populist Response to Black America." In Democratic Promise: The Populist Moment in America. New York: Oxford University Press, 1976.

jessie carney smith (2001)
Updated by publisher 2005