Longtime Texas Democratic Congressmember Sheila Jackson Lee has died at the age of 74. Jackson Lee, who was a tireless fighter for civil rights and progressive causes throughout her three decades in the U.S. House, announced last month she had pancreatic cancer. In 2002, Congressmember Jackson Lee was an early and outspoken opponent of the disastrous and illegal invasion of Iraq. She was also an impassioned advocate for reparations.

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee: “Black people in America are the descendants of Africans kidnapped and transported to the United States with the explicit complicity of the U.S. government and every arm of the United States lawmaking and law enforcement infrastructure. The dehumanizing and atrocities of slavery were not isolated occurrences but mandated by federal laws that were codified and enshrined in the Constitution. The role of the federal government in supporting the institution of slavery and subsequent discrimination directed against Blacks is an injustice that must be formally acknowledged and addressed.”

Sheila Jackson Lee also led the charge to establish Juneteenth as a federal holiday, which was finally signed into law in 2021, making it the first new federal holiday in nearly four decades.