[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 65 (Monday, April 23, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Page S2340]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         REMEMBERING DORIS WARD

 Ms. HARRIS. Mr. President, Californians and San Franciscans 
have lost a fearless advocate for racial and economic equality who 
became the first African-American president of San Francisco's board of 
supervisors. Ms. Doris Ward was elected to the board of supervisors and 
was sworn in on January 8, 1980. In 1991, Ms. Ward became the first 
Black woman to serve as board president.
  Ms. Ward was a trailblazer from her earliest days. She attended an 
integrated school from kindergarten through 12th grade. She went on to 
earn her bachelor's and master's degrees in education at Indiana 
University. Later she earned a master's degree in counseling from San 
Francisco State University and a doctorate in education from U.C. 
Berkeley. Ms. Ward was active in the civil rights movement and 
participated in sit-ins at bars and other public areas in Indiana. Ms. 
Ward began her career as a teacher in Gary, IN, her hometown, before 
joining the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, 
NAACP, in Indianapolis.
  During her time at the NAACP in the late 1960s, Ms. Ward cemented her 
role as a leader for civil rights and social justice by opposing the Ku 
Klux Klan and other forms of racism and discrimination before moving to 
California.
  Ms. Ward started her political career in 1972, after moving to San 
Francisco, when she became a trustee for the city's community college 
district prior to joining the board of supervisors.
  Ms. Ward was a friend, mentor, and we will miss her vibrant spirit. 
The thoughts of San Franciscans and Californians are with Ms. Ward's 
sister, Debra Floyd, of Washington, DC, her family, city leaders, and 
the people of San Francisco during this time.

                          ____________________