Tommie Florence Brown (born 1934) is a former representative of

Chattanooga Chattanooga ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States. Located along the Tennessee River bordering Georgia, it also extends into Marion County on its western end. With a population of 181,099 in 2020, ...

to the

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

state legislature from 1992 through 2012 and a member of the

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 ...

. Brown was born in 1934 at

Rome, Georgia Rome is the largest city in and the county seat of Floyd County, Georgia, United States. Located in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, it is the principal city of the Rome, Georgia metropolitan area, Rome, Georgia, metropolitan statisti ...

, the first of 3 children of Mary Louise and Phillip Brown Sr, and grew up in

. Brown earned her BA from

Dillard University Dillard University is a private, historically black university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded in 1930 and incorporating earlier institutions founded as early as 1869 after the American Civil War, it is affiliated with the United Church of Ch ...

in New Orleans, Louisiana, MSW from

Washington University Washington University in St. Louis (WashU or WUSTL) is a private research university with its main campus in St. Louis County, and Clayton, Missouri. Founded in 1853, the university is named after George Washington. Washington University is r ...

in St. Louis, Missouri, and DSW and PhD in Social Work from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

, New York, New York. Brown worked as a child welfare case manager, supervisor and regional field director for training for the Tennessee Department of Welfare, and taught Social Work Research at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga from 1971 – 1998, including the position of University of Chattanooga Foundation Associate Professor of Social Work. Brown was the lead plaintiff of 12 in ''

Brown v. Board of Commissioners of the City of Chattanooga ''Brown v. The Board of Commissioners of the City of Chattanooga'', 722 F. Supp. 380 (E.D. Tenn. 1989), was the restructuring of the election process of Chattanooga's Board of Commissioners due to its unconstitutionality as it contradicted Section ...

'', which the plaintiffs won in 1989, against the systematic political alienation of local

African Americans African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

as the primary minority voter bloc that could never achieve political representation due to majority

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...

rule. In 1992 Brown was elected to represent the Tennessee 28th District, a part Chattanooga in Hamilton County and served seven terms in office, succeeding C.B. Robinson, the first African American male elected to represent the area in the state legislature. She served for 20 years on the Finance Ways and Means committee, was vice-chair of the House of Representatives' Education Committee and chair of Subcommittee on Higher Education, and member of the Children and Family committee and Domestic Relations Subcommittee.

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 ...

control of both state House and Senate allowed for legislative re-districting which merged two historically African-American legislative districts into one, pitting Brown against JoAnne Favors, a fellow state representative and former campaign manager. Brown was named National Social Worker of the Year Award in 1970, and a Hamilton County Magnet Elementary School (grades K-5), is named after her: "The Dr. Tommie F. Brown Academy for Classical Studies", now called "Tommie F. Brown International Academy", opened next to the

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UT-Chattanooga, UTC, or Chattanooga) is a public university in Chattanooga, Tennessee, United States. It was founded in 1886 and is one of four universities and two other affiliated institutions in the ...

in 2002.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Tommie 1934 births Living people People from Rome, Georgia Columbia University School of Social Work alumni Dillard University alumni George Warren Brown School of Social Work alumni Women state legislators in Tennessee African-American state legislators in Tennessee Democratic Party members of the Tennessee House of Representatives