Mildred Barry Garvin (November 29, 1929 – June 13, 1993) was an American

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

politician who served in the

New Jersey General Assembly The New Jersey General Assembly is the lower house of the New Jersey Legislature. Since the election of 1967 (1968 Session), the Assembly has consisted of 80 members. Two members are elected from each of New Jersey's 40 legislative districts for ...

, from 1978 to 1988, representing the 26th Legislative District until 1982 and the 27th Legislative District thereafter.

Biography

Garvin was born on November 29, 1929, in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, where she attended

DuSable High School Jean Baptiste Point DuSable High School is a public four-year high school campus located in the Bronzeville neighborhood on the South Side of Chicago, Illinois, United States. DuSable is owned by the Chicago Public Schools district. The school ...

. She enrolled at the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the University ...

and William Paterson State College.Lurie, Maxine N.; and Mappen, Marc
"Encyclopedia of New Jersey"
p. 307.

Rutgers University Press Rutgers University Press (RUP) is a nonprofit academic publishing house, operating in New Brunswick, New Jersey under the auspices of Rutgers University. History Rutgers University Press, a nonprofit academic publishing house operating in New B ...

, 2004. . Garvin worked as Director of Special Projects and Internships in the Department of Public Administration at

Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's ...

. She was the first African American on the board of education of the

East Orange School District East Orange School District is a comprehensive community state school, public school district serving students in pre-Kindergarten through twelfth grade from the city of East Orange, New Jersey, East Orange, in Essex County, New Jersey, Essex Co ...

, eventually serving as the board's president, and was the first African American to serve on the board of directors of the East Orange Public Library. Garvin won the June 1977 Democratic Party primary for the Assembly from the 26th District together with

Richard Codey Richard James Codey (born November 27, 1946) is an American Democratic Party politician who served as the 53rd governor of New Jersey from 2004 to 2006. He has served in the New Jersey Senate since 1982 and served as the President of the Senate ...

after incumbent

Eldridge Hawkins Eldridge Hawkins (born September 4, 1940) is an American lawyer and Democratic Party politician who served in the New Jersey General Assembly from 1972 to 1978. During that time he served as the Chairman of The NJ State General Assembly Judiciary, ...

unsuccessfully challenged

Frank J. Dodd Frank J. "Pat" Dodd (February 4, 1938 – May 14, 2010) was an American businessman and Democratic Party politician who served as President of the New Jersey Senate from 1974 to 1975.O'Connor, Julie"Former N.J. Senate president Frank 'Pat' Dodd ...

for his seat in the

New Jersey Senate The New Jersey Senate was established as the upper house of the New Jersey Legislature by the Constitution of 1844, replacing the Legislative Council. There are 40 legislative districts, representing districts with an average population of 232, ...

. After being elected to the Assembly, Garvin was appointed to serve on the Education Committee, building on her 12 years of service on the East Orange Board of Education.Staff
"A First-Term Assemblywoman Becomes a Student of 'What's Wrong With Education'; 'A Little Bit Overwhelmed' 'Tenure Should Not Hinder Us'"
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', February 20, 1978. Accessed October 11, 2010. In redistricting following the

1980 United States census The United States census of 1980, conducted by the Census Bureau, determined the resident population of the United States to be 226,545,805, an increase of 11.4 percent over the 203,184,772 persons enumerated during the 1970 census. It was th ...

, Garvin was shifted to the 27th District, where she served three terms of office. In 1987, Garvin lost the support of the Essex County Democratic Committee resulting in her mounting an outside challenge from her in the June primary of the organization-backed incumbent Harry A. McEnroe and newcomer Stephanie R. Bush. Garvin came in third place in the primary election. Garvin challenged Codey in the 1991 Democratic primary for State Senate, losing to the incumbent by a margin of 60.9%-39.1%. In 1991, she was selected as President of the NAACP of

the Oranges The Oranges are a group of four municipalities in Essex County, New Jersey, all of which have the word ''Orange'' in their name. The four municipalities are Orange, East Orange, South Orange and West Orange. All of these communities were name ...

and Maplewood, which had previously honored her with its Community Service Award. She served as coordinating legislator for the

National Black Caucus of State Legislators The National Black Caucus of State Legislators (NBCSL) is an American political organization composed of African Americans elected to state legislatures in the United States and its territories. Background NBCSL was founded in 1977 after a gro ...

and the

National Conference of State Legislatures The National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), established in 1975, is a "nonpartisan public officials’ association composed of sitting state legislators" from the states, territories and commonwealths of the United States. Background ...

Honors and awards

She received the State Family Planning Legislator's Recognition Award, the Mary Senatore Award from the Essex County Federation of Democratic Women and the Exemplary State Officials Award from the Morris County Chapter of the Association of Black Educators.

Legacy

After her death on June 13, 1993,

Governor of New Jersey The governor of New Jersey is the head of government of New Jersey. The office of governor is an elected position with a four-year term. There is a two consecutive term term limit, with no limitation on non-consecutive terms. The official res ...

James Florio James Joseph Florio (August 29, 1937 – September 25, 2022) was an American politician who served as the 49th governor of New Jersey from 1990 to 1994. He was previously the U.S. Representative for New Jersey's 1st congressional district from 19 ...

issued an executive order recognizing Garvin and ordering that flags of all State departments and offices should be flown at half staff on June 15 and 16 in her memory.Executive Order #96

, June 15, 1993. Accessed October 11, 2010. The

New Jersey Historical Commission The New Jersey Historical Commission is a government agency of the U.S. state of New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New ...

established the Mildred Barry Garvin Prize to honor educators in the state for outstanding teaching of

African-American history African-American history began with the arrival of Africans to North America in the 16th and 17th centuries. Former Spanish slaves who had been freed by Francis Drake arrived aboard the Golden Hind at New Albion in California in 1579. The ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Garvin, Mildred Barry 1929 births 1993 deaths Democratic Party members of the New Jersey General Assembly Politicians from Chicago Politicians from East Orange, New Jersey University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign alumni William Paterson University alumni African-American state legislators in New Jersey Women state legislators in New Jersey 20th-century American legislators 20th-century American women politicians 20th-century African-American women 20th-century African-American politicians 20th-century New Jersey politicians