Tommie Florence Brown (born 1934) is a former representative of

Chattanooga Chattanooga ( ) is a city in Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. It is located along the Tennessee River and borders Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the south. With a population of 181,099 in 2020, it is Tennessee ...

to the

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

state legislature from 1992 through 2012 and a member of the Democratic Party. Brown was born in 1934 at

Rome, Georgia Rome is the largest city in and the county seat of Floyd County, Georgia, United States. Located in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, it is the principal city of the Rome, Georgia metropolitan area, Rome, Georgia, metropolitan statist ...

, the first of 3 children of Mary Louise and Phillip Brown Sr, and grew up in

. Brown earned her BA from

Dillard University Dillard University is a private, historically black university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded in 1930 and incorporating earlier institutions founded as early as 1869 after the American Civil War, it is affiliated with the United Church of C ...

in New Orleans, Louisiana, MSW from the

George Warren Brown School of Social Work The Brown School is the graduate school for social work and public health of Washington University in St. Louis. Located on Washington University's Danforth Campus, adjacent to Forest Park, the school is recognized by the Council on Social Wo ...

Washington University in St. Louis Washington University in St. Louis (WashU) is a private research university in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Founded in 1853 by a group of civic leaders and named for George Washington, the university spans 355 acres across its Danforth ...

, and DSW and PhD in Social Work from the

Columbia University School of Social Work The Columbia School of Social Work is the graduate school of social work of Columbia University in New York City. It is one of the oldest social work programs in the US, with roots extending back to 1898. It began awarding a Master of Science d ...

. Brown worked as a child welfare case manager, supervisor and regional field director for training for the Tennessee Department of Welfare, and taught Social Work Research at the

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UT Chattanooga, UTC, or Chattanooga) is a public university in Chattanooga, Tennessee, United States. It was founded in 1886 and is part of the University of Tennessee System. History UTC was founde ...

from 1971 – 1998, including the position of University of Chattanooga Foundation Associate Professor of Social Work. Brown was the lead plaintiff of 12 in '' Brown v. Board of Commissioners of the City of Chattanooga'', which the plaintiffs won in 1989, against the systematic political alienation of local

African Americans African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa ...

as the primary minority voter bloc that could never achieve political representation due to majority

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

rule. In 1992 Brown was elected to represent the Tennessee 28th District, a part Chattanooga in Hamilton County and served seven terms in office, succeeding C.B. Robinson, the first African American male elected to represent the area in the state legislature. She served for 20 years on the Finance Ways and Means committee, was vice-chair of the House of Representatives' Education Committee and chair of Subcommittee on Higher Education, and member of the Children and Family committee and Domestic Relations Subcommittee. Republican control of both state House and Senate allowed for legislative re-districting which merged two historically African-American legislative districts into one, pitting Brown against

JoAnne Favors JoAnne Favors (born August 27, 1942) is an American politician and a Democratic Party (United States), Democratic member of the Tennessee House of Representatives for the 28th district, which is composed of part of Hamilton County, Tennessee, Hami ...

, a fellow state representative and former campaign manager. Brown was named National Social Worker of the Year Award in 1970, and a Hamilton County Magnet Elementary School (grades K-5), is named after her: "The Dr. Tommie F. Brown Academy for Classical Studies", now called "Tommie F. Brown International Academy", opened next to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in 2002.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Tommie 1934 births Living people People from Rome, Georgia Columbia University School of Social Work alumni Dillard University alumni George Warren Brown School of Social Work alumni Women state legislators in Tennessee African-American state legislators in Tennessee Democratic Party members of the Tennessee House of Representatives University of Tennessee at Chattanooga faculty 20th-century members of the Tennessee General Assembly 21st-century members of the Tennessee General Assembly