Sheila Jackson Lee, strong Democratic voice in US Congress, has died, family says By Reuters

(Reuters) – U.S. Representative Sheila Jackson Lee, a strong progressive voice in the Democratic Party who was outspoken on African-American and women’s rights, has died, her family posted on X late on Friday.

Jackson Lee of Texas announced last month she had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and was undergoing treatment. She was 74, according to U.S. media.

“A fierce champion of the people, she was affectionately and simply known as ‘Congresswoman’ by her constituents in recognition of her near-ubiquitous presence and service to their daily lives for more than 30 years,” her family said in the statement.

Jackson Lee, who represented parts of Houston, introduced a legislation in the House of Representatives to make “Juneteenth” a federal holiday commemorating the end of the legal enslavement of Black Americans.

The holiday marks the day in 1865 when a Union general informed a group of enslaved people in Texas that they had been made free two years earlier by President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation during the Civil War.