Leader- Trailblazer -In Service to Others Always
THE HOUSE DEMOCRATIC CAUCUS MOURNS THE LOSS OF FORMER STATE REPRESENTATIVE
NASHVILLE—House Democratic Caucus members are mourning the passing of their friend and colleague, Former State Representative Tommie Brown of Chattanooga. Dr. Brown served in the State Legislature for 20 years, leaving in 2012.
House Democratic Leader Karen Camper of Memphis said, “Dr. Brown was a kind, soft-spoken lady who loudly advocated for marginalized Tennesseans. She was the first Black tenure-track professor at UT Chattanooga and she founded and established their Department of Social Work. Her belief in advocacy led her to serve in the Tennessee House of Representatives. I will forever be grateful I got to serve alongside her. She saw a lot of change in her life and she was responsible for creating a lot of that change.”
Memphis Representative Larry Miller serves as the House Democratic Leader Pro Tempore and is currently the longest-tenured State Representative. Miller added, “Dr. Brown was very committed, sensitive, and passionate about representing her constituency: the Chattanooga community. She appeared very delicate, but when she needed to be, the little lady could be a bulldog. She took the lead many times on many different issues and she wouldn’t let go until we had a solution to a problem. It was truly amazing to work alongside of her. She was simply amazing in her own way.”
Rep. Yusuf Hakeem said, “Dr. Brown was the truest agent of change in Chattanooga’s social and political environment – a lady of courage and conviction. Integrity was at the core of her being. I am one of many who was fortunate enough to learn and grow from her as a leader. I am confident Chattanooga-Hamilton County recognizes the impact she has had on our community – making it a better place for all of us who call Chattanooga home. She was a trailblazer, a changemaker, and a dear friend. I will miss her very much.”
Prior to her legislative history she was the first African American to head a department at the University of Tennessee Chattanooga.
Prekindergarten – 5 and is located at 718 E. 8th Street, Chattanooga.
UTC has 125 boxes filled with papers documenting the personal and professional history of Dr. Brown. She donated the papers to the UTC Library Special Collections. The papers include letters, photographs, newspaper clippings and documents from her years in education and politics. Included is her original research for her Ph.D. in social work from Columbia University.
Dr. Brown was the lead plaintiff of the 12 who filed the famous lawsuit Brown v. Board of Commissioners of Chattanooga in 1987.
In the lawsuit, the plaintiffs pointed to the all-white Chattanooga City Commission and said the city’s at-large voting did not allow fair political representation for Blacks. In 1989, a federal judge ruled the city’s voting procedure was illegal under the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Chattanooga stopped its at-large voting system in 1991 and created a mayor-council government with nine separate voting districts, with at least three having a 60-65 percent majority Black population.
Rev. Ann Pierre, president of the Hamilton County-Chattanooga chapter of the NAACP, said she was in 10th grade when she met Brown. Since then, she has worked with her on community projects and become her close friend.
Rev. Pierre earlier said in a UTC publication, “Dr. Brown’s importance to the Chattanooga Black community and the city itself cannot be overstated, but most people don’t know all she has done. They don’t know the importance of what she has done because she’s not a person who always came out and wanted accolades for herself. She has always wanted what was right for others.”
Funeral arrangements were incomplete at publication time.
The Chattanooga News Chronicle owners and staff offer condolences to family, friends, and community as we mourn the loss of Dr. Tommie F. Brown. May we all continue to pay tribute to her achievements and legacy of serving others.