Edward "Ed" Vaughn (born July 30, 1934) is an American politician, businessman, and activist who served as a member of the

Michigan House of Representatives The Michigan House of Representatives is the lower house of the Michigan Legislature. There are 110 members, each of whom is elected from constituencies having approximately 77,000 to 91,000 residents, based on population figures from the 2010 ...

from 1979 to 1980 and again from 1995 to 2000.

Early life and education

Vaughn was born in

Abbeville, Alabama Abbeville is a city in and the county seat of Henry County, in the southeast part of Alabama, United States. It is part of the Dothan, Alabama Metropolitan Statistical Area. At the 2020 census, the population was 2,358. It is the first city al ...

. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in history and government from

Fisk University Fisk University is a private historically black liberal arts college in Nashville, Tennessee. It was founded in 1866 and its campus is a historic district listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In 1930, Fisk was the first Africa ...

and attended the

University of Illinois College of Law The University of Illinois College of Law (Illinois Law or UIUC Law) is the law school of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, a public university in Champaign, Illinois. It was established in 1897 and offers the J.D., LL.M., and J.S. ...

for one year.

Early career

Vaughn moved to

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

in 1956. He served in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

and worked for the

United States Postal Service The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or Postal Service, is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for providing postal service in the U ...

. Vaughn also worked at local restaurants and sold books out of his car. Vaughn later opened a Black Power bookstore, supported by minister and writer Albert Cleage. The store became a bastion of the Black Power movement, and was significantly damaged during the Long, hot summer of 1967. Vaugh has been called an "understated Black Power icon" by Literary Hub.

Political career

On November 7, 1978, Vaughn was first elected to the

, where he represented the

8th district 8 (eight) is the natural number following 7 and preceding 9. In mathematics 8 is: * a composite number, its proper divisors being , , and . It is twice 4 or four times 2. * a power of two, being 2 (two cubed), and is the first number of the ...

from January 10, 1979 to December 31, 1980. On November 8, 1994, Vaughn was again elected to in the state house where he represented the

4th district Fourth or the fourth may refer to: * the ordinal form of the number 4 * ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971 * Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision * Fourth (music), a musical interval * ''The Fourth'' (1972 film), a Sovie ...

from January 11, 1995 until he was term limited on December 31, 2000. Vaughn unsuccessfully ran for mayor of Detroit in

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

. Vaughn was also an unsuccessful candidate for the

Michigan Senate The Michigan Senate is the upper house of the Michigan Legislature. Along with the Michigan House of Representatives, it composes the state legislature, which has powers, roles and duties defined by Article IV of the Michigan Constitution, ado ...

seat representing the 2nd district in 2001. In 2000, Vaugh participated in a forum hosted by the Congressional Black Caucus, in which he advocated for slavery reparations. In 2018, Vaughn's writings were collected and donated to the library of

Wayne State University Wayne State University (WSU) is a public research university in Detroit, Michigan. It is Michigan's third-largest university. Founded in 1868, Wayne State consists of 13 schools and colleges offering approximately 350 programs to nearly 25,000 ...

.Guide to the Edward Vaughn Papers UP002518
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Personal life

Vaughn has six children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vaughn, Edward Living people 1934 births African-American state legislators in Michigan People from Abbeville, Alabama Politicians from Detroit Democratic Party members of the Michigan House of Representatives Fisk University alumni American civil rights activists 20th-century American politicians 20th-century African-American politicians 21st-century African-American people