Benjamin Swan is a former American

state legislator A state legislature is a legislative branch or body of a political subdivision in a federal system. Two federations literally use the term "state legislature": * The legislative branches of each of the fifty state governments of the United St ...

who served in the

Massachusetts House of Representatives The Massachusetts House of Representatives is the lower house of the Massachusetts General Court, the State legislature (United States), state legislature of Massachusetts. It is composed of 160 members elected from 14 counties each divided into ...

and represented the 11th Hampden District from 2009 to 2016. On February 6, 2014, Swan was one of five members of the legislative body to vote against the expulsion of State Representative

Carlos Henriquez Carlos Tony Henriquez is an American Democratic politician who represented the 5th Suffolk district in the Massachusetts House of Representatives prior to his expulsion from office in 2014. He was the first house member to be expelled from offi ...

, who had been convicted of assault. Before being elected a state legislator, Swan served for a time as the president of the

Springfield, Massachusetts Springfield is the most populous city in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States, and its county seat. Springfield sits on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River near its confluence with three rivers: the western Westfield River, the ea ...

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

and unsuccessfully ran for mayor of Springfield in the

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

and

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

mayoral elections Swan was a

black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

community

activist Activism consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived common good. Forms of activism range from mandate build ...

, and had a career as a management and education

consultant A consultant (from "to deliberate") is a professional (also known as ''expert'', ''specialist'', see variations of meaning below) who provides advice or services in an area of specialization (generally to medium or large-size corporations). Cons ...

References

Living people Members of the Massachusetts House of Representatives Date of birth missing (living people) Year of birth missing (living people) Activists from Massachusetts People from Belzoni, Mississippi 21st-century members of the Massachusetts General Court 20th-century members of the Massachusetts General Court {{Massachusetts-MARepresentative-stub

See also

References