Daisy L. Elliott (November 26, 1917 – December 22, 2015) was an American politician and realtor from the

state of Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

Early life

Elliott was born Daisy Elizabeth Lenoir in

Filbert, West Virginia Filbert is former coal town on Sandlick Creek now part of the Gary, West Virginia, City of Gary in McDowell County, West Virginia, McDowell County, West Virginia, United States. Its post office closed in 1991. Notable person *Daisy Elliott, Mic ...

, and resided in

Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

. She was a delegate to the 1961–1962 Michigan Constitutional Convention from Wayne County's 4th district, which resulted in Michigan's Constitution of 1963.

Career

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (Cyprus) (DCY) **Democratic Part ...

, she represented Wayne County's 4th district in the

Michigan House of Representatives The Michigan House of Representatives is the lower house of the Michigan Legislature. There are 110 members, each of whom is elected from constituencies having approximately 77,000 to 91,000 residents, based on population figures from the 2020 ...

from 1963 to 1964, Michigan's 22nd district, which replaced Wayne County's 4th district, from 1965 to 1972, and Michigan's 8th district from 1973 to 1978. She was an unsuccessful candidate in the primary for the

Michigan Senate The Michigan Senate is the upper house of the Michigan Legislature. Along with the Michigan House of Representatives, it composes the state legislature, which has powers, roles and duties defined by Article IV of the Michigan Constitution, ado ...

5th district in 1978. then regained her old seat in the Michigan House in 1980. In politics, Elliott was nothing if not persistent: she was defeated five times in the primaries for State Representative (the 1st district in 1950, the 11th district in 1954, and the 4th district in 1956, 1958 and 1960) before finally winning in 1962. While serving in the Michigan State House of Representatives, she co-authored the

Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act The Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act (ELCRA), or Public Act 453 of 1976, which went into effect in 1977, originally prohibited discrimination in Michigan only on the basis of "religion, race, color, national origin, age, sex, height, weight, famil ...

, which passed in 1976, with Melvin L. Larsen. In April 1982, Elliott was arrested for possessing a stolen 1977

Cadillac Cadillac Motor Car Division, or simply Cadillac (), is the luxury vehicle division (business), division of the American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM). Its major markets are the United States, Canada and China; Cadillac models are ...

. She was defeated by

Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick Carolyn Jean Cheeks Kilpatrick (born June 25, 1945) is a former American politician who was U.S. Representative for and then from 1997 to 2011. She is a member of the Democratic Party. In August 2010 she lost the Democratic primary election t ...

in the Democratic primary that year, and, after numerous appeals, had her conviction upheld in 1984. She served sixty days in jail before being released in June 1985.

Political career

She was a member of Democratic Party,

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People 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 ...

(NAACP),

League of Women Voters The League of Women Voters (LWV) is a nonpartisan American nonprofit political organization. Founded in 1920, its ongoing major activities include Voter registration, registering voters, providing voter information, boosting voter turnout and adv ...

, and

Junior League The Association of Junior Leagues International, Inc. (Junior League or JL) is a private, nonprofit educational women's volunteer organization aimed at improving communities and the social, cultural, and political fabric of civil society. With ...

Death and legacy

She died on December 22, 2015, aged 98, at DMC Sinai-Grace Hospital in Detroit. She is interred at

Woodlawn Cemetery Woodlawn Cemetery is the name of several cemeteries, including: Canada * Woodlawn Cemetery (Saskatoon) * Woodlawn Cemetery (Nova Scotia) United States ''(by state then city or town)'' * Woodlawn Cemetery (Ocala, Florida), where Isaac Rice and fa ...

near the Rosa L. Parks Freedom Chapel. In 2016, she was inducted into the

Michigan Women's Hall of Fame The Michigan Women's Hall of Fame (MWHOF) honors distinguished women, both historical and contemporary, who have been associated with the U.S. state of Michigan. The hall of fame was founded in 1983 by Gladys Beckwith and is sponsored by the Michi ...

. On June 30, 2020, the Lewis Cass Building in Lansing was renamed the Elliott-Larsen Building in honor of Larsen and Elliot.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Elliott, Daisy 1917 births 2015 deaths African-American state legislators in Michigan Democratic Party members of the Michigan House of Representatives Politicians from Detroit People from McDowell County, West Virginia Businesspeople from Michigan Women state legislators in Michigan American real estate brokers Burials at Woodlawn Cemetery (Detroit) Delegates to the 1961–1962 Michigan Constitutional Convention 20th-century African-American women politicians 20th-century African-American politicians 20th-century American women politicians 20th-century American businesspeople 21st-century African-American politicians 21st-century African-American women politicians 20th-century African-American businesspeople 20th-century members of the Michigan Legislature