MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – It is difficult to put into words what the loss of Carrie Meek means for those arriving at a mass for the former congresswoman.
“She just exemplified a powerful strong woman,” Rubye Howard, Meek’s former sorority sister.
The service was held Monday evening at the Miami Dade College’s North Campus. Meek passed away late last month at her home in Miami.
Meek was the first Black professor at Miami Dade College. She went on to become an associate dean, and assistant to the Vice President at the college.
She continued breaking barriers, serving as the first Black woman elected to the Florida Senate before becoming the first Black lawmaker from Florida to serve in Congress since the post-Civil War Reconstruction.
RELATED: Memorial events begin for Carrie Meek, paying tribute to pioneering leader
“In addition to everything that she’s done for the community, she was a very good friend to my family,” said friend Angela Bellamy.
Bellamy was asked where she thinks we would be without Meek’s accomplishments.
“I don’t even want to think about it really,” she said. “We would not have the gains that we have made in this community would not have been without her”