NY Times: “Representative Sheila Jackson Lee, a Democrat from Texas who was a leading voice for racial justice and progressive causes during three decades in the House, died on Friday in Houston. She was 74.
Her death was announced in a statement by her family that did not list a cause. She said in June that she had pancreatic cancer.
“By God’s grace, I will be back at full strength soon,” she told constituents at the time.
Ms. Jackson Lee was the author and lead sponsor of the legislation that in 2021 established Juneteenth — commemorating the day in 1865 when the last slaves in Texas finally learned of their freedom — as the first new federal holiday in 38 years.
“I thought it was extremely important,” she said on CNN in 2022 “to pass a federal holiday that would give America a moment to be able to reflect not just on the jubilation of freedom, but also the brutality of slavery and what it meant to human beings.””