She may have held one of Texas' congressional seats, but Sheila Jackson Lee advocated for Black Tulsans while in Washington.
Jackson Lee, 74, died over the weekend after battling pancreatic cancer. She had represented the Houston area in the U.S. Capitol since 1995.
While the congresswoman is known for leading efforts to make Juneteenth a federal holiday, she also promoted awareness around the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. She spoke in favor of reparations for the remaining massacre survivors, supported the push to designate Greenwood Avenue a national monument and called for education reforms to make teaching about the massacre more common.
In 2021, Jackson Lee successfully passed a resolution that recognized the centennial of the massacre.
"If you can’t make it out, this is a Negro’s body with smoke coming out of it as occurred in 1921 when 300 were thrown in a mass grave, unnamed to this day," she said in support of the resolution in 2021 while showing a picture of a Black Tulsan burned in the massacre.
Tiffany Crutcher, director of the Terence Crutcher Foundation, first met Jackson Lee during a meeting with members of the Congressional Black Caucus and families affected by police killings. Crutcher's twin brother was fatally shot by a Tulsa police officer while unarmed in 2016.
Crutcher said Jackson Lee supported her in 2021 when she urged the Department of Justice to reopen an investigation into her brother's shooting.
"She has shown up time and time again, and I’m devastated at her loss," Crutcher said.
While Crutcher misses Jackson Lee, she says the ongoing efforts are “in good hands” thanks to members of the Congressional Black Caucus.
