Mamie Neale Bledsoe was a pioneer political activist at a time with African Americans and women were systematically excluded from full participation in American life. She lived to see the political system in Michigan, and largely the country, opened up to all groups.
During the Depression, she began her career with the Works Progress Administration. In 1937, she became an interviewer with the Michigan Unemployment Compensation Commission, later named the Michigan Employment Security Commission. She spent her career developing fair employment practices and a strong civil rights program in this agency before retiring in 1970 as director of the Equal Employment Opportunity Division.
While Bledsoe would attribute much of the significance of her contributions to the nearly 50-year partnership with her late husband, it is evident that her strong intellect and enormous compassion set an enduring standard of excellence. Her public contributions to fair employment practices at the municipal, state, and federal levels are a matter of record. Her private efforts and voluntary contributions are legion, as reflected in the organizations she helped to found and served, and in the success of the numerous individuals whose careers she helped to shape.
Mamie Neale Bledsoe was a pioneer political activist at a time with African Americans and women were systematically excluded from full participation in American life. She lived to see the political system in Michigan, and largely the country, opened up to all groups.
During the Depression, she began her career with the Works Progress Administration. In 1937, she became an interviewer with the Michigan Unemployment Compensation Commission, later named the Michigan Employment Security Commission. She spent her career developing fair employment practices and a strong civil rights program in this agency before retiring in 1970 as director of the Equal Employment Opportunity Division.
While Bledsoe would attribute much of the significance of her contributions to the nearly 50-year partnership with her late husband, it is evident that her strong intellect and enormous compassion set an enduring standard of excellence. Her public contributions to fair employment practices at the municipal, state, and federal levels are a matter of record. Her private efforts and voluntary contributions are legion, as reflected in the organizations she helped to found and served, and in the success of the numerous individuals whose careers she helped to shape.
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