Waters, Maxine Moore

Impact on the world

Has represented Los Angeles in Congress since 1991, becoming the most senior of the Black women serving in the House and the first woman and first African American to chair the House Financial Services Committee, after an earlier 14-year career in the California State Assembly during which she authored the nation's first statewide child abuse prevention training program and the state's first plant closure law.

Life & background

The fifth of 13 children raised by a single mother in St. Louis, Waters began working in factories and segregated restaurants at age 13 before moving to Los Angeles in 1961, where she worked in a garment factory and as a telephone operator while raising a family. She earned a sociology degree from what is now California State University, Los Angeles in 1971, then served as chief deputy to a Los Angeles city councilman before her own election to the California State Assembly in 1976, where she rose to Democratic Caucus Chair and authored the state's largest divestment of pension funds from apartheid South Africa, its first statewide child abuse prevention training program, and the nation's first plant closure law. Elected to Congress in 1990, she gained national attention for her vocal presence during the 1992 Los Angeles riots following the acquittal of police officers in the Rodney King beating, describing the unrest as an understandable, if not fully acceptable, response to systemic injustice. She chaired the Congressional Black Caucus from 1997 to 1999 and became the first woman and first African American to chair the House Financial Services Committee in 2019, a position she continues to hold as ranking member; she has also faced ethics scrutiny over financial dealings involving family members, including being named to a government watchdog group's list of corrupt members of Congress in multiple years.

Sources

1. Maxine Waters official House website; The HistoryMakers; National Urban League