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From Suffrage to the Senate America's Political Women: An Encyclopedia of Leaders, Causes & Issues

Lee, Barbara (b. 1946)

Democrat Barbara Lee of California entered the U.S. House of Representatives on April 7, 1998. Lee, who had been an aide for Congressman Ronald V. Dellums for 12 years, ran for his seat when he retired. She campaigned on the theme “carrying the baton.” Lee was Co-Chair of the Democratic Steering and Policy Committee in the 116th (2019-2021) Congress.

Congresswoman Lee’s priorities include increased funding for education and cleanup of toxic waste sites, urban issues, and affordable housing. She has also advocated divestment from companies doing business in Sudan, citing the Sudanese government’s campaign of violence, displacement, and genocide in the Darfur region.

She gained national attention when she cast the only vote against the resolution authorizing a military response to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. In her remarks before the vote, Lee said: “I have agonized over this vote. But I came to grips with it in the very painful yet beautiful memorial service today [September 15, 2001] at the National Cathedral. As a member of the clergy said, ‘As we act, let us not become the evil that we deplore.”’ She later opposed the pre-emptive invasion of Iraq, saying that it would set “a dangerous precedent.”

Congresswoman Lee, along with several other members of the House, formed the Congressional Out of Poverty Caucus in 2007. The caucus seeks bipartisan strategies to end poverty in the United States. She has also been a leader in the bipartisan effort to end the genocide in Darfur, Sudan.

In other areas, Lee passed an amendment permitting domestic violence victims to stay in public housing, instead of being evicted with their attackers. She has advocated the creation of a Cabinet-level Department of Peace. She is a leader on the national and international levels in fighting for attention to the AIDS epidemic, drafting several of the provisions included in a law signed by President George W. Bush in 2003. Lee has served as co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

Born in El Paso, Texas, Barbara Lee earned her BA from Mills College in 1973 and her master’s degree in social work from the University of California at Berkeley in 1975. A college course assignment to work for a political campaign led Lee to Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm’s 1972 campaign for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination. Before working for Dellums, she co-founded a community health center in Berkeley, California.

Lee served in the California Assembly from 1990 to 1996 and in the California Senate from 1996 to 1998. While in the California legislature, Lee successfully sponsored legislation to redevelop closed military facilities and open a California trade office in Johannesburg, South Africa.

See also: Congress, Women in; State Legislatures, Women in

References: “Barbara Lee, D-Calif.” (1998); Congressional Quarterly, Politics in America 2002 (2001), Politics in America 2004 (2003), Politics in America 2006 (2005); “Congresswoman Barbara Lee: A Voice for the People,” http://lee.house.gov/index.cfm?sectionid=2&sectiontree=2 (accessed July 25, 2012); “Barbara Lee,” https://lee.house.gov (accessed April 6, 2019); “Congresswoman Barbara Lee Calls for Start to Sudan Divestment,” Finance Wire, January 30, 2005; “The Extraordinary Conscience of Barbara Lee,” Peacework, October 1, 2001, p. 17.

Citation Types

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MLA 9th
"Lee, Barbara (b. 1946)." From Suffrage to the Senate America's Political Women: An Encyclopedia of Leaders, Causes & Issues, edited by Suzanne O’Dea, Salem Press, 2019. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=Suffrage3e_0554.
APA 7th
Lee, Barbara (b. 1946). From Suffrage to the Senate America's Political Women: An Encyclopedia of Leaders, Causes & Issues, In S. O’Dea (Ed.), Salem Press, 2019. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=Suffrage3e_0554.
CMOS 17th
"Lee, Barbara (b. 1946)." From Suffrage to the Senate America's Political Women: An Encyclopedia of Leaders, Causes & Issues, Edited by Suzanne O’Dea. Salem Press, 2019. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=Suffrage3e_0554.