MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – A funeral and homegoing celebration was held Tuesday for former Congresswoman Carrie Meek in Miami Gardens.
The service began at 11 a.m. at the Antioch Missionary Baptist Church.
“Carrie Pittman Meek has earned her pleasant dreams,” said Rep. James Clyburn.
With songs, music and moving words, those close to Meek remembered her life and legacy.
“Carrie’s most lasting legacy is the path she cleared for others,” said Rep. Steny Hoyer.
Prior to the service was a motorcade procession that passed by:
- Range Funeral Home, 5727 Northwest 17th Avenue
- Miami Dade College- Carrie P Meek Entrepreneurial Education Center, 6300 NW 7th Avenue
- African Heritage Cultural Arts, 6161 NW 22nd Avenue
- Miami Dade College- North Campus, 11380 NW 27th Avenue
- Carrie P Meek/Westview K-8 Center, 2101 NW 127th Street
- Antioch Missionary Baptist Church, Miami Gardens, 21311 NW 34th Avenue
Meek died on Nov. 28 at age 95 at her home in Miami after battling a long illness, family spokesperson Adam Sharon said in a statement. The family did not specify a cause of death.
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.
After that, Meek 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.
In Congress, Meek championed affirmative action, economic opportunities for the poor and efforts to bolster democracy in and ease immigration restrictions on Haiti, the birthplace of many of her constituents.
She also was known for her liberal opinions, folksy yet powerful oratory and colorful Republican bashing.
“The last Republican that did something for me was Abraham Lincoln,” she told the state delegation to the 1996 Democratic Convention in Chicago.
Meek is survived by her children Lucia Davis-Raiford, Sheila Davis Kinui and Kendrick B. Meek, seven grandchildren, five great-grandchildren and multiple nieces and nephews.
An interment will follow the funeral service at Caballero Rivero Dade North Memorial Park, 1301 Opa-Locka Blvd.
In lieu of flowers, the family is requesting donations to The Carrie Meek Foundation, Inc. 4000 NW 142nd St, Opa-locka, FL 33054. For more info: carriemeekfoundation.org
Local 10 News reporter Christian De La Rosa contributed to this report.