Odessa Shannon
african-American human rights campaigner
Odessa M. Shannon (July 4, 1928 – May 17, 2020) was an African-American human rights campaigner from Maryland. In 1982, she became the first black woman elected to a policymaking position in Montgomery County and later established the Montgomery County Human Rights Hall of Fame. In 2022, she was named to the Maryland Women's Hall of Fame.
Biography
Early life
Odessa M. Shannon was born in Washington, DC on July 4, 1928. After graduating as a valedictorian from Dunbar High School, Shannon moved to Northampton, Massachusetts where she would earn a bachelor's degree from Smith College. At Smith, she was a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha.
After college, Shannon moved to Baltimore where she began teaching in the Baltimore public school district. She later relocated to Silver Spring, in Maryland's Montgomery County. As a newcomer in Montgomery County, she became active in local politics. Shannon then moved from her teaching career to join the federal government at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
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