Born: April 30, 1941 in Little Rock, Arkansas
Bio: Lottie Lee Holt Shackelford is a prominent African American political leader who became the first female mayor of Little Rock and commanded leadership roles in the national Democratic Party for three decades. She was an Arkansas delegate to every Democratic National Convention from 1980 through 2012, often as a superdelegate, and was chosen to be an automatic superdelegate for the 2016 convention. In addition, she was the longest-serving national vice chair in the Democratic Party’s history.
In 1993, Shackelford was inducted into the Arkansas Black Hall of Fame. She was a founder in 1998 of the Women’s Foundation of Arkansas, which is dedicated to the advancement of women in the state. In 2014, she led the Women’s Caucus of the Democratic National Committee.
You can learn more about the life of Lottie Shackelford at the Encyclopedia of Arkansas.