Doris Bunte was the first to do a lot of things, like being a Black woman elected to the Massachusetts Legislature. Though she died earlier this year, a group of Black women who said they follow in her footsteps as representatives want for Bunte to claim another first — being the first Black woman to have an official portrait hung in the Massachusetts State House.
Reps. Liz Miranda, Brandy Fluker Oakley and Nika Elugardo made the case Wednesday for H 3204, a resolution that calls for a commemorative memorial portrait of former Rep. Bunte to be created and hung in the State House in a location determined in conjunction with the Black and Latino Legislative Caucus. Rep. Chynah Tyler, an early bill co-sponsor who was not present for the Joint Committee on State Administration and Regulatory Oversight hearing Wednesday, told the News Service that she is "absolutely supportive" of having a pioneer like Bunte prominently represented at the State House.
"We are the only four Black women serving in the Massachusetts House of Representatives, standing on the shoulders of giants who came before us. We are also only four women out of the 14 total Black and Latinx women who have ever served in this body since 1630," Miranda said of herself, Elugardo, Tyler and Fluker Oakley. She added, "There are currently no portraits of Black women or men in the entire State House" though a portrait of former Gov. Deval Patrick, the state's first Black governor, was unveiled in 2015 and hangs in the lobby of the governor's suite.
Bunte, who died in February at the age of 87, would be a fitting first, the representatives said. She was the first Black woman elected as a state representative in Massachusetts, serving as a member of the House representing Roxbury from 1973 until 1985. Bunte left the House to take the job of executive director of the Boston Housing Authority, the first Black woman and the first BHA tenant to lead the agency.
"Her representation and leadership were so important and have sculpted how our institutions operate today. Representative Bunte was also a founding member of both the Massachusetts Black and Latino Legislative Caucus and the Massachusetts Caucus of Women Legislators. She was also the first woman to chair a legislative committee," Fluker Oakley said. "These accomplishments deserve recognition, not only to honor Rep. Bunte but also to inspire each of us to continue working towards her vision of an equitable future."
Miranda said that Bunte was "essential in getting funding for Roxbury Community College and convincing colleagues to create a majority Black state Senate seat and district" during her time in the Legislature. When she led the BHA in the 1980s, Miranda said, Bunte "championed efforts to integrate and desegregate Boston Public Housing, laying the groundwork for a stronger, better and more equal BHA."
Watch: Bunte and other women on breaking into the boys' club
Breaking Into The Boys' Club from GBH News on Vimeo.
Elugardo said that Bunte's story and her legacy should be more widely known. In relaying a story about how important having a physical representation of Black women at the State House would be, Elugardo told the committee about her own time as an undergraduate "firebrand and a protester" at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and her appointment as the student member on what was then a new Campus Committee on Race Relations.
When her first idea to analyze how MIT's financial aid decisions affected students of color was rejected by the group, Elugaro said, she proposed a project that the group accepted to replace some pictures of white men around campus with photos of Black women and men who contributed to science or to MIT. Years later, Elugardo said, MIT became the first university of its stature to make education free for any poor student.
"And that was a direct result of what was originally called the Campus Committee on Race Relations," Elugardo said. "So while at the age of 20, I was -- forgive the language in advance -- I was totally pissed that we were settling for a picture or a set of pictures on the wall without dealing with the core issues, what we're asking you to do today is actually connected to the core issues in a very deep way, which as a 48-year-old woman, I now understand."
The Joint Committee on State Administration and Regulatory Oversight is accepting written testimony on the Bunte portrait bill and others that had a hearing Wednesday until Nov. 19. At least one member of the committee said she would like to see the Bunte bill move soon thereafter.
"I want to encourage you and my fellow committee members to report 3204 out favorably and to do it, potentially, before the end of the year so that we could get our ducks in a row and get that bill to the floor before Black History Month, which is in February," Rep. Michelle Ciccolo (D-Lexington) said. "I think it would be incredible if we actually look toward that strategy to have the Doris Bunte bill move forward."
