Three decades after Juanita Goggins became the first African American woman to be elected to the South Carolina Legislature, she froze to death in a rented home just a few miles from the Statehouse where she made history.
Goggins has long been hailed as a valiant and fearless political pioneer who championed school funding, kindergarten and class size, and initiated sickle-cell anemia testing at the state health department, died a sheltered recluse from all those she spent her life helping. She was 75.
“I’m very saddened. People like her you want to see live forever. She had quite a gift for helping others,” said state Sen. John Land, a fellow Democrat who was first elected to the House the same year as Goggins, told reporters.
Goggins was the youngest of 10 children who grew up more than 100 miles from the state capitol in Columbia. She taught in the state’s segregated schools, married a dentist and got into politics. In 1972, she became the first black woman to represent South Carolina as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention. Two years later, she became the first black woman appointed to the U.S. Civil Rights Commission. She twice was invited to visit the president of the United States.
Goggisn had retreated into her own world in recent years and declined needed assistance from family members, her friends and even her own son. Last year, when the state legislature voted to name a highway in her name, she was mugged hear her home. Shestopped going for daily walks and further retreated from society.
His sister who manages the property, Linda Marshall, said Goggins declined help from the county.
“She needed someone to assist her, but anyone who tried to get close, she’d block them off,” she said told reporters. “She was very fragile. This was something I always dreaded.”
Why she withdrew is perplexing to her family. Her son, Horace Goggins, 42, of suburban Atlanta, attributes it to her illness, which was never fully diagnosed.
“That’s something I’ve been trying to get my head around for the last 15 years,” said Horace Goggins, who lives in Powder Springs, Ga.
Horace admits he last saw her about six months ago and refused help under any circumstances. –terry shropshire
