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Waters, Maxine Moore
Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives from California.Maxine Moore Waters gained national recognition during the Los Angeles Riots of 1992, when she emerged as one of the black community's principal voices in Congress. She assailed the long-term neglect of America's inner cities, an issue that had propelled her political career from its beginning.The fifth of thirteen children born to Remus and Velma Lee Carr Moore, Waters grew up in a housing project in St. Louis, Missouri. Inspired by a fifth-grade math teacher who took a special interest in her, Waters set high expectations for herself and assumed leadership roles in school. In the late 1960s, she became a spokesperson for the Los Angeles-based Head Start program, where she taught after working as a factory worker and telephone operator. Meanwhile, Waters attended California State University, majoring in sociology, and brought up her two children with her husband Edward Waters, a factory worker.In 1973 Waters was appointed chief deputy to city council member David Cunningham, and she later campaigned for United States Senator Alan Cranston and Los Angeles mayor Tom Bradley. She launched her own political career in 1976, when she was elected to the California State Assembly. During her fourteen-year tenure as an assemblyperson, her legislative successes were numerous and diverse, ranging from a law that curbed California's business investment in South Africa to a training program for child abuse prevention. She prioritized women's rights and helped to found the National Political Congress of Black Women in 1984. In 1990 Waters was elected to the United States Congress as a representative from the Twenty-ninth Congressional District, where she advocated for minorities and urban renewal. (After redistricting in 1992, the Twenty-ninth District was renumbered the Thirty-fifth District.) In 1993 she introduced and won passage of a bill that provided $50 million for an innovative training program for disadvantaged youth nationwide. In 1997 she became the third woman to chair the Congressional Black Caucus. Waters has served as Chief Deputy Whip of the Democratic Party since 1999, and in 2002 she was named co-chair of the influential House Democratic Steering Committee. Waters was reelected to her Congressional seat in 2002, receiving over three-quarters of the votes cast.See also United States House of Representatives, African-Americans in.
Bibliography
- Collier, Aldore. Maxine Waters: Telling It Like It Is in L.A. Ebony, Oct. 1992.
- Mills, Kay. Maxine Waters: ‘I don't pretend to be nice no matter what …’. The Progressive, Dec. 1993.
