Barbara Yancy Explained

Barbara Yancy
Office:Member of the Mississippi State Senate
Term Start:January 5, 1971
Term End:January 4, 1972
Birth Name:Barbara Young
Birth Date:25 March 1934
Birth Place:Vardaman, Mississippi, U.S.
Death Place:Jackson, Mississippi, U.S.
Party:Democratic
Spouse:Jesse L. Yancy Jr.
Children:3
Alma Mater:University of Mississippi

Barbara Young Yancy (Young; March 25, 1934 – April 24, 1996) was an American politician who served in the Mississippi State Senate from 1971 to 1972. A member of the Democratic Party, she won the special election to fill the Senate seat of her husband, Jesse L. Yancy Jr., who died in 1970. She later worked for Governor Cliff Finch as the director of the Governor's Action Line, a state-run helpline.

Early life

Barbara Young was born on March 25, 1934, in Vardaman, Mississippi.[1] [2] She was a 10th generation Mississippian and attended Calhoun City High School in Calhoun City, Mississippi.[2] [3] Shortly after graduating from high school, she married Jesse L. Yancy Jr., an attorney who was elected to the Mississippi State Senate in 1967, representing Calhoun, Chickasaw, Clay, and Monroe counties.[4] They lived in Bruce, Mississippi, and had three children: Tom, Cindy, and Jesse.[2] Barbara helped with writing her husband's speeches in his successful campaigns for district attorney and state senate.[5]

Career

After Jesse Yancy Jr. died of a heart attack on August 26, 1970, a special election was held to fill his Senate seat.[6] According to Barbara, Jesse's friends and supporters encouraged her to run for the open seat. She later said that the campaign "kept me away from the house and gave me something to think about other than myself and my problems".[7] In the November 1970 election, she defeated Houston cattleman Mackie Weaver by approximately 3,400 votes.[8] She was sworn in on January 5, 1971, becoming the third woman in the state senate that year, alongside Berta Lee White and Jean D. Muirhead.[9] Lieutenant Governor Charles L. Sullivan appointed Yancy as vice chairman of the Senate Elections Committee, which Jesse Yancy had chaired.[10] Court-ordered redistricting in May 1971 placed Yancy in the same senatorial district as state senator Tommy Brooks.[11] She later announced that she would not seek re-election in the 1971 elections, and worked on Cliff Finch's unsuccessful campaign for lieutenant governor that year.[12] [13]

After leaving the state senate, Yancy worked as a receptionist in the state auditor's office. She enrolled in the University of Mississippi when she was 38 years old and majored in social work.[7] During the governorship of Cliff Finch, she was the director of the Governor's Action Line, a state-run public information service that provided assistance to callers.[14] Yancy was a vocal advocate of the "Displaced Homemakers Bill", a bill in the Mississippi legislature that would provide counseling, health care, and job training for widowed or divorced women.[15] She gave a series of lectures across Mississippi discussing displaced homemakers, frequently citing her own experiences after the death of her husband as well as the experiences of women who called into the Governor's Action Line.[7] [16]

In the 1980s and early 1990s, she worked at the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks, and was the assistant to the director of the parks division.[2]

Death

Yancy died from heart failure at her home in Jackson, Mississippi, on April 24, 1996.[2]

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Women of the Mississippi Legislature . Mississippi Digital Library . Mississippi Library Commission . March 27, 2021.
  2. News: Aden . Marky . Barbara Yancy, ex-state senator . March 27, 2021 . . 16 . April 26, 1996.
  3. News: Calhoun City Educator To Be Honored . March 27, 2021 . . 24 . May 10, 1974.
  4. News: State Legislature To Get Many New Name Plates . March 27, 2021 . . 14 . August 31, 1967.
  5. News: Holland . Gina . Widowed grandmother takes up husband's politics . March 27, 2021 . . 6 . July 16, 1995.
  6. News: State Sen. Yancy dies; chief of election panel . March 27, 2021 . . 12 . August 27, 1970.
  7. News: Myers . Leslie R . The distress familiar to this listener . March 27, 2021 . . 95, 101 . March 4, 1979.
  8. News: Woman elected to Senate . March 27, 2021 . . 7 . November 4, 1970.
  9. News: Saggus . James . State Legislature Tackles Bills . March 27, 2021 . Enterprise-Journal . 12 . January 6, 1971.
  10. News: Jones . James L . House okays 'choice' bill . March 27, 2021 . . 2 . January 12, 1971.
  11. News: Saggus . James . Legislature Races More Unpredictable . March 27, 2021 . . 4 . June 5, 1971.
  12. News: Gordon . Charles B . Some Won't Return . March 27, 2021 . . 25 . July 25, 1971.
  13. News: Williams . Ed . Lots of new faces expected in legislature . March 27, 2021 . . 12 . July 8, 1971.
  14. News: Bates . David . Utility cutoffs are cold facts of life . March 27, 2021 . . 3 . December 31, 1978.
  15. News: 'Displaced Homemakers' discussed . March 27, 2021 . The Northside Sun . 14 . February 15, 1979.
  16. News: Sassone . Rosemary S . Displaced Homemaker . March 27, 2021 . Enterprise-Journal . 5 . April 30, 1979.