Sharon Pratt (born January 30, 1944), formerly Sharon Pratt Dixon and Sharon Pratt Kelly, is an American attorney and politician who was the third

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well ...

of the

District of Columbia ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle (Washington, D.C.), Logan Circle, Jefferson Memoria ...

from 1991 to 1995, the first mayor born in the District of Columbia since

Richard Wallach Richard Wallach (April 3, 1816 – March 4, 1881) was an American politician who served as the nineteenth and first Republican Mayor of Washington, D.C. History Wallach was born in Alexandria, Virginia in 1816, when it was still part of the Di ...

who took office in 1861 and the first woman in that position.

Personal life

Sharon Pratt was born to D.C. Superior Court

judge A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a panel of judges. A judge hears all the witnesses and any other evidence presented by the barristers or solicitors of the case, assesses the credibility an ...

Carlisle Edward Pratt and Mildred "Peggy" (Petticord) Pratt. After her mother died of

breast cancer Breast cancer is cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipple, a newly inverted nipple, or ...

, her grandmother, Hazel Pratt, and aunt, Aimee Elizabeth Pratt, helped to raise Sharon and her younger sister. Pratt attended D.C. Public Schools Gage ES, Rudolph ES, MacFarland Junior High School, and Roosevelt HS (1961, with honors). She excelled at

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

but did not pursue the sport in adolescence. At

Howard University Howard University (Howard) is a Private university, private, University charter#Federal, federally chartered historically black research university in Washington, D.C. It is Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, classifie ...

she joined the

Alpha Kappa Alpha Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. () is the first intercollegiate historically African American sorority. The sorority was founded on January 15, 1908, at the historically black Howard University in Washington, D.C., by a group of sixteen s ...

sorority Fraternities and sororities are social organizations at colleges and universities in North America. Generally, membership in a fraternity or sorority is obtained as an undergraduate student, but continues thereafter for life. Some accept gradua ...

(1964), and earned a

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and ...

(1965). She received a J.D. degree from the

Howard University School of Law Howard University School of Law (Howard Law or HUSL) is the law school of Howard University, a private, federally chartered historically black research university in Washington, D.C. It is one of the oldest law schools in the country and the ol ...

in 1968."Sharon Pratt Dixon." ''

Notable Black American Women ''Notable Black American Women'' is a three-volume series by Jessie Carney Smith profiling 1,100 Black American women. The first volume, with 500 profiles, was published in 1992, the second in 1994, and the third in 2003, all by Gale. Smith spent m ...

'', Book 1. Gale Research, 1992. Updated: December 20, 1992 Reproduced in Biography Resource Center.

Farmington Hills, Michigan Farmington Hills is a city in Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. Part of the affluent suburbs northwest of Detroit, Farmington Hills is the second most-populated city in Oakland County, after Troy, with a population of 83,986 at the 2 ...

Gale A gale is a strong wind; the word is typically used as a descriptor in nautical contexts. The U.S. National Weather Service defines a gale as sustained surface winds moving at a speed of between 34 and 47 knots (, or ).Fairfax County Public Library The Fairfax County Public Library (FCPL) is a public library system headquartered in Suite 324 of The Fairfax County Government Center in unincorporated Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. Hennen's American Public Library Ratings ...

April 10, 2009. She married

Arrington Dixon Arrington Dixon is an American politician who is a former Chair and Member of the Council of the District of Columbia of Washington, D.C. Early years Dixon was born in Anacostia in Washington, D.C., to James and Sally Dixon. Council of the Dist ...

in 1966 and has two daughters with him; they divorced after sixteen years. She campaigned and was elected and inaugurated mayor of DC as Sharon Pratt Dixon, but when she married James R. Kelly III, a New York businessman, on December 7, 1991, she changed her name to Sharon Pratt Kelly. After their 1999 divorce, she resumed her maiden name, Sharon Pratt. Pratt is a member of

The Links The Links is an American invitation-only social and service organization of prominent Black women in the United States. Founded in 1946, it is the largest nationwide organization of Black women in the USA. Members include multiple prominent wome ...

Career

Initially her political energies were drawn to national rather than local politics. She was a member of the

Democratic National Committee The Democratic National Committee (DNC) is the governing body of the United States Democratic Party. The committee coordinates strategy to support Democratic Party candidates throughout the country for local, state, and national office, as well ...

from the District of Columbia (1977–1990), the first woman to hold that position. She was DNC Treasurer from 1985 to 1989. At the

1980 Democratic National Convention The 1980 Democratic National Convention nominated President Jimmy Carter and Vice President Walter Mondale for reelection. The convention was held in Madison Square Garden in New York City from August 11 to August 14, 1980. The 1980 conventio ...

, she was a member of the Ad Hoc Credentials Committee, member of the Judicial Council, and co-chairman of the Rules Committee. "Sharon Pratt Dixon."

Contemporary Black Biography Contemporary history, in English-language historiography, is a subset of modern history that describes the historical period from approximately 1945 to the present. Contemporary history is either a subset of the late modern period, or it is o ...

, Volume 1. Gale Research, 1992. Updated: July 7, 1992. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale, 2009. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC Document Number: K1606001025. Fee, via

Fairfax County Public Library The Fairfax County Public Library (FCPL) is a public library system headquartered in Suite 324 of The Fairfax County Government Center in unincorporated Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. Hennen's American Public Library Ratings ...

April 10, 2009. In 1982, she ran Patricia Roberts Harris' mayoral campaign in the D.C. election. In 1983, she was made Vice President of Community Relations at Pepco, the D.C. electric utility. She became the first woman and first African American to serve in that role. The same year, she won the Presidential Award from the

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E.& ...

(NAACP).

1990 mayoral election

Upset with the decline of her hometown, Pratt announced at the

1988 Democratic National Convention The 1988 Democratic National Convention was held at The Omni in Atlanta, Georgia, from July 18 to 21, 1988, to select candidates for the 1988 presidential election. At the convention Governor Michael Dukakis of Massachusetts was nominated for pr ...

that she would challenge

incumbent The incumbent is the current holder of an office or position, usually in relation to an election. In an election for president, the incumbent is the person holding or acting in the office of president before the election, whether seeking re-ele ...

mayor

Marion Barry Marion Shepilov Barry (born Marion Barry Jr.; March 6, 1936 – November 23, 2014) was an American politician who served as the second and fourth mayor of the District of Columbia from 1979 to 1991 and 1995 to 1999. A Democrat, Barry had served ...

in the 1990 election. Pratt was the only candidate to have officially announced her plans to run for mayor when Barry was arrested on drug charges and dropped out of the race in early 1990. Shortly thereafter, the race was joined by longtime councilmembers

John Ray John Ray FRS (29 November 1627 – 17 January 1705) was a Christian English naturalist widely regarded as one of the earliest of the English parson-naturalists. Until 1670, he wrote his name as John Wray. From then on, he used 'Ray', after ...

Charlene Drew Jarvis Charlene Drew Jarvis (born July 31, 1941, in Washington, D.C.David Clarke. Pratt criticized her three main opponents, referring to them as the "three blind mice" who "saw nothing, said nothing and did nothing as the city rapidly decayed." She was the only candidate who called on Barry to resign from office, and ran specifically as an outsider to his political machine. Following a series of televised debates during the last few weeks of the campaign, Pratt received the endorsement of ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large n ...

''.'' ''The day the endorsement appeared, her poll numbers skyrocketed, with many political observers attributing the rise specifically to the ''Posts backing. On the eve of the election, polls showed Councilmember

holding the lead, but Pratt gaining ground fast and a large margin of undecided voters remaining. However, even with the smallest campaign staff and least money, Pratt won the

election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operat ...

, defeating second-place Ray by 10%. As Washington is a heavily Democratic city, her victory over the Republican candidate, former police chief Maurice T. Turner, Jr., in the November 6 general election was a foregone conclusion. She was sworn in as mayor of Washington on January 2, 1991.

Mayor of the District of Columbia

Once in office, Pratt's

grassroots A grassroots movement is one that uses the people in a given district, region or community as the basis for a political or economic movement. Grassroots movements and organizations use collective action from the local level to effect change at t ...

, reform posture met resistance. She made good on her promises to clean house, requesting the resignations of all Barry appointees the day after her election; however, as she began to slash the city employment payroll, her political support began to weaken. She angered labor leaders who claimed she had promised not to fire union employees, and began mandating unpaid furloughs and wage freezes citywide. She took great pains to remove all of Barry's political cronies, even though these layoffs hurt her administration as well. Kelly was at odds with several D.C. Council members with her proposal to temporarily move the city government to the building at

One Judiciary Square One Judiciary Square is a highrise office building at 441 Fourth Street NW in the Judiciary Square neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Designed by architect Vlastimil Koubek, the building is tall and has approximately 10 floors. Its construction end ...

, ten blocks away from Washington's incumbent city hall, the

District Building The John A. Wilson District Building, popularly known simply as the Wilson Building, houses the municipal offices and chambers of the Mayor and the Council of the District of Columbia. Originally called the District Building, it was renamed in 19 ...

, while the latter underwent renovations. When Kelly moved her office and administration departments to One Judiciary Square in 1992, the Council refused to leave the District Building, although they had approved the proposal that spring. In February 1993, after accusing Kelly of deliberately neglecting maintenance in order to force them out, they voted to take full and exclusive control of the District Building. According to the ''

Washington City Paper The ''Washington City Paper'' is a U.S. alternative weekly newspaper serving the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area. The ''City Paper'' is distributed on Thursdays; its average circulation in 2006 was 85,588. The paper's editorial mix is focu ...

'', Kelly "was never able to get control of a city government still loyal to Barry, and she often mistrusted the advice she got from aides." In the spring of 1992, just over a year into her term, Barry loyalists mounted a recall campaign, which, although unsuccessful, weakened her administration and forced Kelly to tread more carefully with the public, backing away from her reform efforts. Kelly faced some racial opposition because she is a light-skinned black. The trait is often cited as a hallmark of elite African Americans in the District, thus distancing her from poor and working-class blacks in the city.

Statehood

Kelly's drive to achieve D.C. statehood in order to improve the District's financial and political standing created fierce opposition from

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

members of Congress, who unleashed a barrage of attacks on the District as a "national disgrace" of "one-party rule...massive dependency, hellish crime...and unrelenting scandal." The attacks brought unwelcome negative press to the District, and the ultimate failure in the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

of DC statehood legislation weakened her political capital. She lost standing with the D.C. Council when she supported Council member Linda Cropp to serve as acting Chair after the suicide of John A. Wilson in May 1993; instead, the Council chose

John L. Ray John L. Ray (born May 16, 1943) is a lawyer and Democratic politician in Washington, D.C. Ray was an at-large member of the Council of the District of Columbia from 1979 to 1997. Ray is a partner and member of the board of directors at the law ...

Redskins stadium

Kelly was blamed for the

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) ...

moving out of the city. Redskins owner

Jack Kent Cooke Jack Kent Cooke (October 25, 1912 – April 6, 1997) was a Canadian-American businessman in broadcasting and professional sports. Starting in sales, Cooke was very successful, eventually becoming a partner in a network of radio stations and news ...

attempted to pressure the city to build a new stadium to replace aging

RFK Stadium Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium, commonly known as RFK Stadium and originally known as District of Columbia Stadium, is a defunct multi-purpose stadium in Washington, D.C. It is located about due east of the U.S. Capitol building, near the ...

, with the threat of moving the team to nearby

Alexandria, Virginia Alexandria is an independent city in the northern region of the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. It lies on the western bank of the Potomac River approximately south of downtown Washington, D.C. In 2020, the population was 159,467. ...

. After negotiations stalled and Cooke was publicly courted by Virginia's governor, Kelly denounced Cooke vocally, saying that "I will not allow our good community to be steamrolled by a billionaire bully." She announced that she had offered as much as she was willing to offer the Redskins and would go no further. Although an agreement was ultimately reached, in 1993 Cooke withdrew from negotiations and moved the team to what is now

FedExField FedExField (originally Jack Kent Cooke Stadium) is an American football stadium located in Summerfield, Maryland, east of Washington, D.C. The stadium is the home of the Washington Commanders of the National Football League (NFL). From 2004 u ...

Landover, Maryland Landover is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. As of the 2020 census it had a population of 25,998. Landover is contained between Sheriff Road and Central Avenue to the so ...

City finances and re-election campaign

Kelly began her term having extremely good relations with Congress, including successfully lobbying them to increase federal aid for D.C. by $100 million and to authorize the sale of $300 million in deficit reduction bonds. As fiscal year 1994 began for DC government (in October 1993), DC faced a $500 million budget deficit, with financial experts predicting that the city's debt would reach $1 billion by 1999; the US Congress commissioned a federal audit of the city finances by the GAO. In February 1994, in the face of a ballooning deficit, Kelly faced heavy criticism when ''

'' reported that she regularly spent taxpayer funds on makeup for cable television appearances. Kelly was reported to have set aside $14,000 of city money to pay her makeup artist. In the weeks following, Kelly came under fire for other inappropriate uses of city funds, including the addition of bulletproof glass and a marble fireplace in her office and a series of 1993 televised town hall meetings that she had promised would be paid for with private financing. The GAO's report on DC finances was published on June 22, 1994, and estimated that the city would run out of money in two years and "may be forced to borrow from the U.S. Treasury by fiscal year 1995." The report specifically singled out Kelly's administration for gross mismanagement of city funds and agencies, and accused her of concealing the city's perilous fiscal condition from Congress for two years, "using gimmicks and violating the federal anti-deficiency act, which prohibits over-spending of a federally approved budget." The report, coupled with Congress' subsequent assertion of power over DC's budget (including deep cuts and new requirements for mayoral compliance), provided political ammunition for her challengers and effectively destroyed Kelly's reelection campaign. ''The Washington Post'', which had endorsed Kelly in 1990, instead in 1994 endorsed Councilman John Ray. In its endorsement, the ''Post'' reflected that Kelly "has not been a coalition builder, which a mayor – and perhaps particularly the mayor of a city under enormous financial and social stress – needs to be...the most aggressive members of the city council, those most sympathetic to her cost-cutting message, are not with her. Nor are key elements in the business community. She has lost them and with them, we believe, her chance to enact the measures she has stood for." In the Democratic primary that September, Kelly finished a distant third, with only about 13% of the vote. Barry won the primary and would go on to win the general election in November against an unusually strong Republican opponent,

Carol Schwartz Carol Schwartz (born January 20, 1944) is an American politician from Washington, D.C., who served as a Republican at-large member on the Council of the District of Columbia from 1985 to 1989 and again from 1997 to 2009. A five-time perennial ...

Post-mayoral activities

Consulting

In 2003, Pratt was awarded a $235,000 contract from the District of Columbia's Department of Health to be the city's main contact with federal homeland security agencies. The contract also calls for her to investigate improved communications and technology to protect the district from bioterrorism. Pratt was required to meet with senior federal officials and write a report on potential opportunities, especially resource-sharing agreements. She was also required to look for additional funding sources. Pratt's firm, Pratt Consulting, does management consulting and works with federal, state, and local agencies and non-profit groups.

Awards

Glamour magazine ''Glamour'' is today an online women's magazine published by Condé Nast Publications. For many years a traditional hard-copy magazine, it was founded in 1939 and first published in April 1939 in the United States. It was originally called '' ...

’s Woman of the Year Award *

Congressional Black Caucus The Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) is a caucus made up of most African-American members of the United States Congress. Representative Karen Bass from California chaired the caucus from 2019 to 2021; she was succeeded by Representative Joyce B ...

’

Mary McLeod Bethune Mary Jane McLeod Bethune ( McLeod; July 10, 1875 – May 18, 1955) was an American educator, philanthropist, humanitarian, womanist, and civil rights activist. Bethune founded the National Council of Negro Women in 1935, established the organi ...

W. E. B. Du Bois William Edward Burghardt Du Bois ( ; February 23, 1868 – August 27, 1963) was an American-Ghanaian sociologist, socialist, historian, and Pan-Africanist civil rights activist. Born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, Du Bois grew up i ...

award * Clean Cities Award *

Candace Award The Candace Award is an award that was given from 1982 to 1992 by the National Coalition of 100 Black Women (NCBW) to "Black role models of uncommon distinction who have set a standard of excellence for young people of all races". Candace (pronou ...

National Coalition of 100 Black Women The National Coalition of 100 Black Women, Inc. (NCBW) is a non-profit volunteer organization for African American women. Its members address common issues in their communities, families and personal lives, promoting gender and racial equity. Hi ...

, 1991.

References

External links

*
Kelly, Sharon Pratt Dixon (1944– ) , The Black Past: Remembered and ReclaimedMayor Sharon Pratt Kelly
D.C. Council
Pratt Consulting, LLC
via web.archive.org on 2009-04-03, current site (2020-05-27) advertises steroids
Sharon Pratt Kelly Archival Collection Finding Aid Moorland Spingarn Research Center
* , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Pratt, Sharon Mayors of Washington, D.C. African-American mayors of Washington, D.C. Women mayors of places in the United States Washington, D.C., government officials Politicians from Washington, D.C. African-American people in Washington, D.C., politics Women in Washington, D.C., politics Howard University School of Law alumni Washington, D.C., Democrats Lawyers from Washington, D.C. 20th-century American Episcopalians African-American Episcopalians 20th-century African-American people 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American women 21st-century African-American women 1944 births Living people African-American women mayors