Yvonne Brathwaite BURKE, Congress, CA (1932)

BURKE, Yvonne Brathwaite, a Representative from California; born Perle Yvonne Watson in Los Angeles, Calif., October 5, 1932; attended the public schools in Los Angeles; B.A., University of California, Los Angeles, Calif., 1953; J.D., University of Southern California School of Law, Los Angeles, Calif., 1956; lawyer, private practice; served as deputy corporation commissioner, hearing officer for Los Angeles Police Commission, and attorney on the staff of the McCone commission; elected to California State legislature, 1967-1972; delegate to Democratic National Convention, 1972; elected as a Democrat to the Ninety-third and to the two succeeding Congresses (January 3, 1973-January 3, 1979); not a candidate for reelection to the Ninety-sixth Congress in 1978, but was an unsuccessful candidate for the Democratic nomination for State Attorney General of California; appointed by the Governor to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors,1979-1980; elected a Los Angeles County Supervisor, Los Angeles, Calif., 1992 to present; is a resident of Los Angeles, Calif.

Bibliography

”Yvonne Brathwaite Burke” in Black Americans in Congress, 1870-2007. Prepared under the direction of the Committee on House Adminstration by the Office of History & Preservation, U. S. House of Representatives. Washington: Government Printing Office, 2008; Gray, Pamela Lee. “Yvonne Brathwaite Burke: The Congressional Career of California’s First Black Congresswoman, 1972-1978.” Ph.D. diss., University of Southern California, 1987.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present