Mickey Leland

About

African-American Democratic politician and eighteenth-district Texas member of the United States House of Representatives. During his 1979-1989 congressional tenure, he chaired the Congressional Black Caucus.

Before Fame

After studying at Houston's Wheatley High School, he graduated from Texas Southern University.

Trivia

He was the subject of a 1991 song by folk musician Pierce Pettis.

Family Life

He was raised in Lubbock and Houston, Texas. He died at the age of forty four in an airplane crash in Ethiopia.

Associated With

He and Barbara Jordan were among the first Texas-born African-Americans to serve in the United States House of Representatives.