Tilo Frey (2 May 1923 – 27 June 2008) ) was a

Swiss politician The government of Switzerland is a federal state with direct democracy. * The legislative branch is the Federal Assembly. The Federal Assembly has two parts: the National Council, which represents the public, while the Council of States ...

. She was one of the first twelve women elected to the National Council in

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclip ...

and was the first person of African descent elected to the National Council. Prior to her service at the federal level, she was a member of the municipal council of

Neuchâtel Neuchâtel (, ; ; ) is a list of towns in Switzerland, town, a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality, and the capital (political), capital of the cantons of Switzerland, Swiss canton of Neuchâtel (canton), Neuchâtel on Lake Neuchâtel ...

and the

Grand Council of Neuchâtel The Grand Council of Neuchâtel () is the legislature of the canton of Neuchâtel, in Switzerland. Neuchâtel, styled as a Republic and Canton (''République et Canton''), has a unicameral legislature. The Grand Council has 100 seats, with me ...

Early life and education

Frey was born in

Maroua Maroua (Fula: Marwa, , 𞤥𞤢𞤪𞤱𞤢) is the capital of the Far North Region (Cameroon), Far North Region of Cameroon, stretching along the banks of the Ferngo River, Ferngo and Kaliao Rivers, in the foothills of the Mandara Mountains. T ...

Cameroon Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the R ...

, as the daughter of a Swiss father, Paul Frey of

Brugg Brugg (sometimes written as Brugg AG in order to distinguish it from other ''Brugg''s) is a Switzerland, Swiss Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality and a List of towns in Switzerland, town in the canton of Aargau and is the seat of the Bru ...

, and a

Fula Fula may refer to: *Fula people (or Fulani, Fulɓe) *Fula language (or Pulaar, Fulfulde, Fulani) **The Fula variety known as the Pulaar language **The Fula variety known as the Pular language **The Fula variety known as Maasina Fulfulde *Fula alpha ...

mother, Fatimatou Bibabadama. She was adopted by Katscha Frey. As a mixed-race child in Switzerland, Frey faced considerable racism. Even her father advised her to "act as white as a lily". She attended school in Canton Neuchatel and vocational school in Neuchatel from 1938 – 1941.

Professional career

From 1943 to 1971 she taught business classes at the ''Ecole de commerce'' of Neuchâtel. After her political career came to an end, she returned to teaching and from 1976 to 1984, she was director of the ''Ecole professionnelle de jeunes filles''.

Political career

She became active in politics in 1959 once the

Canton of Neuchâtel The Republic and Canton of Neuchâtel (; ; ; ) is a mostly French-speaking canton in western Switzerland. In 2007, its population was 169,782, of whom 39,654 (or 23.4%) were foreigners. The capital is Neuchâtel. History County of Neuchâtel ...

gave women the right to vote and run for public office. She joined the

Free Democratic Party of Switzerland The Free Democratic Party (, FDP; , PLD), also called Radical Democratic Party (, PRD; , PLR) was a liberal political party in Switzerland. Formerly one of the major parties in Switzerland, on 1 January 2009 it merged with the Liberal Party of ...

(FDP) and was elected into the municipal council of Neuchâtel in 1964. When she was elected to the

1969, she became the first person of color to serve in that body. In a referendum of 1971, Swiss voters approved giving women the

right to vote Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise is the right to vote in representative democracy, public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in ...

and to stand for office. Frey entered the race for the National Council in the

1971 Swiss federal election Federal elections were held in Switzerland on 31 October 1971.Dieter Nohlen, Nohlen, D & Stöver, P (2010) ''Elections in Europe: A data handbook'', p1895 Although the Social Democratic Party of Switzerland, Social Democratic Party received the ...

and won a seat as a member of the FDP, joining nine other women who entered the council. Media coverage at the time was heavily focused on her race during the campaign. In 1974 she resigned from municipal council in Neuchâtel. She was not re-elected to the National Council in the 1975 election. Among her key issues were equal pay for woman and legalized abortion. Frey died on 27 June 2008 in her hometown of Neuchâtel at the age of 85.

Legacy

In June 2019, Neuchâtel changed the name of Espace Louis-Agassiz, near the Faculty of Letters of the

University of Neuchâtel The University of Neuchâtel (UniNE) is a French-speaking public research university in Neuchâtel, Switzerland. The university has four faculties (schools) and more than a dozen institutes, including arts and human sciences, natural sciences, ...

area, to Espace Tilo Frey.

Louis Agassiz Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz ( ; ) FRS (For) FRSE (May 28, 1807 – December 14, 1873) was a Swiss-born American biologist and geologist who is recognized as a scholar of Earth's natural history. Spending his early life in Switzerland, he recei ...

was a professor of natural history and

glaciology Glaciology (; ) is the scientific study of glaciers, or, more generally, ice and natural phenomena that involve ice. Glaciology is an interdisciplinary Earth science that integrates geophysics, geology, physical geography, geomorphology, clim ...

. He is now recognized as having held and propagated racist views, having published work on

polygenism Polygenism is a theory of human origins which posits the view that humans are of different origins (polygenesis). This view is opposite to the idea of monogenism, which posits a single origin of humanity. Modern scientific views find little merit ...

that claimed a ranking of the races in which blacks were inferior to whites and defended racial segregation.

References

External links