Yvonne Pearl Burke (née Watson, later Brathwaite; born October 5, 1932) is an American politician and lawyer from

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. She was the first African-American woman to represent the West Coast in Congress. She served in the U.S. Congress from 1973-1979. She represented the 2nd District on the

Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors (LACBOS) is the five-member governing body of Los Angeles County, California, United States. History On April 1, 1850 the citizens of Los Angeles elected a three-man Court of Sessions as their firs ...

from 1992–2008. She served as Chair of Los Angeles County four times (1993–94, 1997–98, 2002–03, 2007-08) and served as chair pro tem three times (1996–97, 2001–02, 2006–07). Her husband is William Burke, a prominent philanthropist and creator of the Los Angeles Marathon. In 1973, she became the first member of the U.S. Congress to give birth while in office, and she was the first person to be granted maternity leave by the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. She serves on the Board of Directors of

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous U.S. States and nine cities in Canada. ...

, having been appointed to the position by President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Obama was the first Af ...

in 2012.

Early life and career

Yvonne Watson - Manual Arts High School - W 1950

Perle Yvonne Watson was born on October 5, 1932, in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

as the only child of James A. Watson and the former Lola Moore. After first attending a public school, she was sent to a model school for exceptional children. At

Manual Arts High School Manual Arts High School is a secondary public school in Los Angeles, California, United States. History Manual Arts High School was founded in 1910 in the middle of bean fields, one-half mile from the nearest bus stop. It was the third high sch ...

she was a member of the debate team and served as vice president of the Latin Club her junior year and girls' vice president in her senior year. Burke attended the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant un ...

from c. 1949 to 1951 before receiving a bachelor's degree in political science from the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the Californ ...

in 1953. She subsequently earned a J.D. degree from the University of Southern California Law School in 1956. Burke is one of the first black women to be admitted to the University of Southern California Law School. Her first entry into the world of politics was when she worked as a volunteer for the reelection of President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964. She was elected to the

California State Assembly The California State Assembly is the lower house of the California State Legislature, the upper house being the California State Senate. The Assembly convenes, along with the State Senate, at the California State Capitol in Sacramento. The ...

in 1966, representing Los Angeles' 63rd District (1966–1972). Many of her early legislative efforts centered around juvenile issues and limiting garnishment of wages. She served as vice-chairperson of the

1972 Democratic National Convention The 1972 Democratic National Convention was the presidential nominating convention of the Democratic Party for the 1972 presidential election. It was held at Miami Beach Convention Center in Miami Beach, Florida, also the host city of the Repub ...

. She was the first African American and the first woman of color to hold that position, and presided for about fourteen hours when the chair left the convention on its last day. That same year, she was elected to the first of three terms in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Tenure in U.S. Congress

During her tenure in Congress, she served on the House Select Committee on Assassinations, House Beauty Shop Committee, and the House Committee on Appropriations; during her tenure on the Appropriations Committee, she fought for increased funding to aid local jurisdictions to comply with desegregation mandates In 1973, with the birth of her daughter

Autumn Autumn, also known as fall in American English and Canadian English, is one of the four temperate seasons on Earth. Outside the tropics, autumn marks the transition from summer to winter, in September ( Northern Hemisphere) or March ( ...

, Burke became the first member of Congress to give birth while in office and the first to be granted maternity leave by the

Speaker of the United States House of Representatives The speaker of the United States House of Representatives, commonly known as the speaker of the House, is the presiding officer of the United States House of Representatives. The office was established in 1789 by Article I, Section 2 of the ...

. She did not seek re-election to Congress in 1978, but instead ran for

Attorney General of California The attorney general of California is the state attorney general of the Government of California. The officer's duty is to ensure that "the laws of the state are uniformly and adequately enforced" ( Constitution of California, Article V, Secti ...

. She lost to Republican

George Deukmejian Courken George Deukmejian Jr. (; June 6, 1928 – May 8, 2018) was an American politician who served as the 35th governor of California from 1983 to 1991. Of Armenian descent, Deukmejian was a member of the Republican Party and he also served ...

Later political career

In 1979, shortly after leaving Congress, Governor

Jerry Brown Edmund Gerald Brown Jr. (born April 7, 1938) is an American lawyer, author, and politician who served as the 34th and 39th governor of California from 1975 to 1983 and 2011 to 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, he was elected Secretary of S ...

appointed Burke to the Board of

Regents of the University of California The Regents of the University of California (also referred to as the Board of Regents to distinguish the board from the corporation it governs of the same name) is the governing board of the University of California (UC), a state university sy ...

; but she resigned later that year when Governor Brown appointed her to fill a vacancy in the District 4 seat on the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. Burke was the first female and first African-American supervisor. Her district, however, was largely made up of affluent, conservative white areas on the coast. In 1980, Burke was defeated in her bid for a full term in the seat by Republican Deane Dana. In 1982, Brown again appointed her to the Regents. In 1992, Burke ran for the District 2 seat on the L.A. County Board of Supervisors. The primary election was held in June, 1992, just weeks after the

1992 Los Angeles Riots The 1992 Los Angeles riots, sometimes called the 1992 Los Angeles uprising and the Los Angeles Race Riots, were a series of riots and civil disturbances that occurred in Los Angeles County, California, in April and May 1992. Unrest began in So ...

. After a hard-fought campaign that often turned negative, Burke narrowly defeated State Senator

Diane Watson Diane Edith Watson (born November 12, 1933) is a former American politician who served as US Representative for , serving from 2003 until 2011, after first being elected in the 32nd District in a 2001 special election. She is a member of the Dem ...

. In 2007, Burke announced that she would retire when her term expired in 2008. On July 27, 2007, the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the ...

'' published a front-page story revealing that she was not living in the mostly low-income district she represented, but rather in the wealthy Brentwood neighborhood, an apparent violation of state law. Burke responded that she was living at her Brentwood mansion because the townhouse she listed in official political filings was being remodeled. On March 29, 2012, she was nominated by President

to serve on the

Board of Directors. Confirmed by the U.S. Senate, she has held a seat on that board ever since.

Personal life

In 1957 she married Louis Brathwaite, divorcing in 1964. She married William A. Burke in Los Angeles on June 14, 1972, just days after she won a Congressional primary against Billy Mills, a

Los Angeles City Council The Los Angeles City Council is the legislative body of the City of Los Angeles in California. The council is composed of 15 members elected from single-member districts for four-year terms. The president of the council and the president pro temp ...

member for whom William Burke had worked. Their daughter

Autumn Burke Autumn Burke (born November 23, 1973) is an American politician who served as a member of the California State Assembly. A Democrat, she represented the California's 62nd State Assembly district, which encompasses portions of the Westside and ...

was born on November 23, 1973. Yvonne and Autumn are the first mother-and-daughter to both serve in the

California Assembly The California State Assembly is the lower house of the California State Legislature, the upper house being the California State Senate. The Assembly convenes, along with the State Senate, at the California State Capitol in Sacramento. The Ass ...

Memberships

Burke is a member of

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.

References

External links

Yvonne Burke's oral history video excerpts
at The National Visionary Leadership Project *
Join California Yvonne Brathwaite Burke
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