Carrie P. Meek won election to the House in 1992 as one of the first African American legislators to represent Florida in Congress after Reconstruction. By focusing on her district's economic and immigration issues, Carrie secured a coveted spot on the House Appropriations Committee as a freshman representative. While he could work with Republicans on health care issues, he sharply criticized welfare reform efforts during the mid-1990s. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Carrie Pittman, the daughter of Willie and Carrie Pittman, was born on April 29, 1926, in Tallahassee, Florida. His grandmother was born and raised in Georgia as a slave. Carrie Pittman's parents began their married life as sharecroppers, although her father later became a janitor and her mother a laundress and boarding house owner. Carrie was the youngest of 12 children and a tomboy. Carrie's family lived near the old capital of Florida, in a neighborhood called "Bottom." Carrie Pittman starred in track and field while earning a bachelor's degree in biology and physical education from Florida A&M University in Tallahassee in 1946. She enrolled in graduate school at the University of Michigan because blacks were banned from Florida graduate schools, although the state government would pay her out-of-state tuition "if we agreed to get out of Dodge," she later recalled. He graduated in 1948 with a degree in public health and physical education. Subsequently, Pittman taught at Bethune Cookman, a historically black college in Daytona Beach, where he coached basketball and taught biological sciences and physical education. He later taught at Florida A&M. In 1961, divorced with two young children, Carrie Pittman Meek moved to Miami-Dade Community College, where she spent the next three decades teaching and administering, eventually serving as special assistant to the college's vice president. In 1978 he won election to the Florida state House of Representatives, defeating 12 candidates. He served from 1979 to 1983, chairing the Education Appropriations Subcommittee. From 1983 to 1993, Carrie served in the Florida Senate. She was the first African American woman elected to that body and the first black to serve there after Reconstruction. Earning a reputation as a particularly effective legislator, he passed a minority business enterprise law and other legislation to promote literacy and reduce the high school dropout rate. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Customize EssayCarrie focused on her district's needs, which included issues stemming from unemployment, immigration, and a natural disaster. However, Carrie used her Appropriations seat primarily to try to expand federal programs to create jobs and provide initiatives for African Americans to open their own businesses. Carrie also created a measure to change Social Security laws to cover domestic workers. Carrie sought to extend U.S. residency to immigrants and refugees who had been excluded from two 1997 bills addressing Central American immigration. In 1999, he strove to get more accurate census counts in his district by providing a measure under which welfare recipients could temporarily work for the U.S. Census Bureau without losing their benefits..