Frederica Wilson

Early life, education, and career

Wilson was born Frederica Smith on November 5, 1942 in Miami, Florida, the daughter of Beulah (née Finley) and Thirlee Smith. Her maternal grandparents were Bahamian. Wilson earned her bachelor of arts degree from Fisk University in 1963, and her master of arts degree from the University of Miami in 1972. She served as the Principal of Skyway Elementary School in Miami. She served on the Miami-Dade County School Board from 1992 through 1998.

Florida Legislature

Wilson represented District 104 in the Florida House of Representatives from 1998 to 2002. She then represented the 33rd District in the Florida Senate from 2002 until her election to Congress in 2010. She served as Minority Leader Pro Tempore in 2006, then Minority Whip.

An early supporter of Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign, in 2008 she voted for Obama and Joe Biden as one of Florida's presidential electors.

2010 election

When Kendrick Meek retired from Florida's 17th congressional district to run for the United States Senate in 2010, Wilson ran for the open seat, and won the Democratic nomination to face her Republican challenger to win Meek's seat. On November 2, 2010 she won in the general election without electoral opposition, in a district where the Democratic nomination is tantamount to election.

Committee assignments

Tenure

During her career as an educator, she founded the 5000 Role Models program, which seeks to bring down dropout rates. Since her time in the Florida legislature, she has strongly opposed standardized testing. She has expressed concern with the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT), suggesting that the funds spent administering the standardized test would be better spent on improving education by hiring more teachers, and proposing that tutoring companies be banned from exploiting vulnerable children, "even if it means banning companies like Ignite! Learning, founded by ex-Governor Jeb Bush's brother, Neil".

Frederica Wilson has taken a vocal opposition to the Tea Party. At a Miami town hall meeting, she told citizens to remember that the Tea Party is the real enemy and that they hold Congress hostage. She expressed her belief that they have one goal in mind: "to make President Obama a one-term president."

Wilson took a vocal stance in the death of Trayvon Martin, who was a constituent of hers and whose family she says she has known all her life. She has been both praised and criticized for stating shortly after the killing the motive of the accused, George Zimmerman, was racism. She suggested that Zimmerman had "hunted" Martin, based simply on his race. She called for Zimmerman's arrest “for his own safety.”

In March 2012, in a statement on the floor of the House of Representatives, Wilson said, "Justice must be served. No more racial profiling!" Describing the incident as a "classic example of racial profiling quickly followed by murder", she called for Zimmerman to be arrested. Wilson organized a rally in Miami on April 1, 2012, calling for Zimmerman's imprisonment. She criticized Florida's self-defense gun law, the so-called "Stand Your Ground" law, in the wake of Martin's killing, even though she voted for it as a legislator, sharing her sentiment that when new laws go on the books, they work against the people, the laws "should be looked at and repealed." In April 2012, Wilson said that the death of Martin was "definitely" murder.

Concern had been raised about Wilson's outspoken comments, with some asking if her rhetoric was "making it more difficult for the prosecutor to do her job." Wilson has been calling for tougher laws to prevent the racial profiling that led to Martin's death.

Wilson led efforts to combat bullying and hazing both as the South Atlantic Regional Director for Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority and as a member of Congress. A Miami Herald reporter nicknamed her "The Haze Buster" for her public stance against hazing. She was part of a coalition of African-American fraternity and sorority leaders who launched an anti-Hazing campaign after the 2011 death of Florida A&M drum major Robert Champion Jr.

After the release of the video showing police shooting mental health therapist Charles Kinsey in her district, Wilson tweeted that she was shocked and angered by Kinsey's shooting. She added that "Like everyone else I have one question: Why?"

MSNBC's “The Grio,” an African-American news and opinion platform, named Wilson a “The Grio 100” for 2012.

Personal life

Wilson is widowed. She has three children. Wilson is an avid wearer of hats. She has a large collection that includes hundreds of hats of all different varieties. She wears one every day to honor her late grandmother. She has asked Former House Speaker John Boehner to waive the rule prohibiting the wearing of hats on the floor of the House of Representatives, a rule in place since 1837.