Published on February 23, 2026 at 6:31 pm
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BLACKSONVILLE 100 | People who won elected office and left a legacy of community engagement and improvement.
Corrine Brown
Congress | Corrine Brown, “the Congresswoman” from Jacksonville, joined the late Carrie Meek as one of the first Black women from Florida elected to the U.S. Congress, in 1992. They were the first two Black Floridians elected to Congress in 118 years. Brown represented part of Jacksonville in Congress for 24 years. Prior to that, she served a decade in the Florida House of Representatives and earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Florida A&M University and an educational specialist degree from the University of Florida. Before entering politics, she taught at the University of Florida, Edward Waters and what is now known as Florida State College at Jacksonville.
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(Photo courtesy: Congressional Black Caucus Foundation)
George W. Crockett Jr. (1909-1997)
Congress, judge | Jacksonville native George W. Crockett Jr. graduated from Stanton High School before moving north to study. Crockett earned an undergraduate degree from Morehouse in 1931 as well as a law degree from the University of Michigan in 1934. Prior to his congressional career, Crockett helped establish an NAACP chapter in Fairmont, West Virginia; served as the first Black attorney within the U.S. Department of Labor; and argued before the U.S. Supreme Court to help establish Michigan’s first integrated law firm. In 1966 he was elected a judge of recorder’s court in Detroit’s Wayne County, Michigan. Crockett was elected to Congress in 1980 and served five full terms before his retirement in 1991. He died in September 1997 at age 88.
(Photo courtesy: Congressional Black Caucus Foundation)
Sallye Brooks Mathis
Educator, Jacksonville City Council | Jacksonville native Sallye Brooks Mathis grew up in the Sugar Hill neighborhood and graduated from Stanton High School. Mathis worked for years in the federal Works Project Administration before starting her 28-year teaching career in 1934. She helped Mary Blocker in her 1941 lawsuit to fight for equal pay for Black public school teachers. She later earned an undergraduate degree from Tuskegee University and a master’s from Florida A&M. In 1967, Mathis and Mary Singleton were the first Black women elected to Jacksonville City Council. Mathis served on the council for 15 years, until her death in 1982 at age 70.
(Photo courtesy: City of Jacksonville)
Mary Littlejohn Singleton
Jacksonville City Council, Florida Legislature | The late Jacksonville native Mary Littlejohn Singleton grew up in Campbell’s Addition on the Eastside. She attended the Boylan Haven School on the Eastside prior to enrolling at Hampton and earning a degree from Florida A&M in 1949. She taught at Matthew W. Gilbert High School. Singleton and the late Sallye B. Mathis were the first Black women elected to the Jacksonville City Council, in 1967. In 1972, Singleton also became the first woman from Northeast Florida to serve in the Florida House of Representatives. In 1976 she was appointed director of the Florida Division of Elections. Singleton died in 1980 at age 54.
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(Photo courtesy: City of Jacksonville)
Arnett Giradeau
Florida Legislature | Jacksonville native Arnett Giradeau graduated from Stanton High School before earning undergraduate and dentistry degrees from Howard University. Giradeau was an Eagle Scout who participated in the 1960 demonstrations and sit-ins that culminated in Ax Handle Saturday. He was elected to the Florida House of Representatives in 1976. In 1982, Giradeau became the first Black person elected to the Florida Senate since Reconstruction. In 1989 he became the first Black person in state history to serve as Florida Senate Pro Tempore. He was a founding member of the Florida Conference of Black State Legislators and a longtime member of the Jacksonville NAACP. Giradeau’s advocacy during Florida’s congressional redistricting process following the 1990 Census paved the way for Jacksonville residents to elect their first Black representative to Congress in more than a century. He was inducted into the Florida Civil Rights Hall of Fame in 2017 months before his death at age 88.
This entry is part of Jacksonville Today’s BLACKSONVILLE 100, a list of influential people with ties to Jacksonville, compiled on the centennial of Negro History Week. See the whole list.
