Florence Pendleton obit

Florence Pendleton, Shadow Senator Who Fought For D.C. Statehood, Dies At 94

 

She was not on the list.

One of D.C.’s first senators and the first African American woman elected to the Senate, Florence Pendleton, has died at the age of 94.

Pendleton passed away peacefully at her home in Columbus, Georgia, on Thursday.

Pendleton was born to John Milton and Elease Brooks Howard in Columbus in 1926. She graduated from Howard University with a bachelors and a master’s degree and spent the next 55 years living in the District.

Alongside civil rights activist Jesse Jackson, in 1991, Pendleton was one among the first people elected to represent the District in Congress. But unlike Jackson, Pendleton would serve 17 years stretching into early 2007.

Tom Sherwood, a local political analyst and co-host of the Politics Hour on WAMU, said Pendleton emerged from a crowded field as the winning candidate and has been the only woman to hold the position since.

Sherwood said Pendleton made advocating for statehood her full-time job.

“The question does come, is the dream alive? I say, yes, the dream is alive,” Pendleton said in a 1993 speech at Howard University, “It’s alive because here in the District of Columbia, we are — after 30 years from that march in 1963 — struggling for dignity and respect, although we have paid everything that we’re supposed to do. We’re somewhat like a student who has answered all of the questions on the exam perfectly and is expected an A. We here in the District of Columbia have answered all of the questions, and we’re expecting statehood … And we’re going to get it.”

Before being elected in 1991, Pendleton was an administrator for DC Public Schools for more than 40 years.

“Ms. Pendleton was a well-liked, well-respected educator for decades here in local Washington,” Sherwood said. “She was always polite but fierce in her strongly held views about D.C. statehood.”

Executive Director of DC Vote Bo Shuff did not personally know Pendleton but said she and Jackson were the first glimpse at what Congressional representation in D.C. might look like.

“To have someone like her and Jesse Jackson serve as some of the first ones in each of those two Senate seats certainly sets the bars high for getting the work done to achieve statehood and then figuring out who our senators are going to be,” Shuff said.

Shadow senators and representatives continue to play a large role in petitioning and getting the word out about statehood. Although they do not have voting power in Congress, they function as spokespeople and advocates for statehood.

Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton,  D.C.’s current delegate in the House, said in a press release that the two were elected to their respective positions at the same time, and she considered Pendleton a friend.

“Our city will remember this year, the year the House passed our D.C. statehood bill, with gratitude for Senator Pendleton’s service to the District of Columbia,” Norton said.

Pendleton was an active member of her community. She was a member of the District of Columbia Retired Teachers Association, the Drifters Social Club, Challengers Bridge Club, the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, a chairperson on the Advisory Neighborhood Commission, a chairperson on the Ward 5 Democratic Club, and secretary on the Bloomingdale Civic Association (she moved to the neighborhood in 1961).

She is survived by her sons, Oscar Pendleton, Jr. and Howard T. Pendleton, as well as five grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

A homegoing celebration for Pendleton will be held on Wed. Sept. 16 at 2:00 p.m. at Green Acres Cemetery. Visitation begins Monday at 1 p.m., with Family Hour from 4 until 5:00 p.m. at the funeral home. People can also express their condolences online here.