Fight the Good Fight: Progressive Lessons from Carrie Saxon Perry, Hartford’s first African-American woman mayor

— by Jamie Mills, PoliticaCT Board Member

Carrie Saxon Perry, Hartford’s mayor from 1987-1993, stood up for everybody. She also stood up to everybody.

She was the first African-American woman mayor of Hartford, and the first of any city in the northeast. But perhaps more impressive was her willingness to challenge institutions and power-brokers that resisted progressive change.

Madam Mayor, as many called her, led a grassroots movement of local leaders from all of Hartford’s communities. A former social worker and state representative, she fought for health care reform, the decriminalization of drugs, an end to capital punishment, and equal rights for the LGBTQ community.

Mayor Perry believed that representation matters and after two terms as Mayor, in 1991 Perry recruited a multiracial challenge slate to run against the incumbent Democrats who had impeded her progressive agenda. In a highly contentious and hard-fought primary and general election, Perry’s challenge slate of six city council candidates — 2 black, 2 white and 2 Puerto Rican — were overwhelmingly elected.

Under Mayor Perry’s leadership, Hartford city government opened new avenues of participation to those who had been excluded, and:

• adopted the state’s first civilian police review board,
• established the Commission on Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Issues,
• established the Commission on Workplace Rights,
• adopted a universal health care ordinance, and
• passed the Domestic Partnership Ordinance, establishing a process for registration and recognition of domestic partnerships.

She battled with insurance company executives, the Hartford Police Union, the Democratic Town Committee, the Hartford Courant, and stood up to black churches that opposed any legal recognition of same-sex couples.

I was a volunteer in each of her four mayoral races and recall the intense emotions and commitment of the coalition that supported her campaigns. It was a full-throated challenge to the existing power structure that had long favored business interests over the needs of the neighborhoods.

What I most remember is that Carrie Saxon Perry was humble and smart and a hard worker. As Vice-Chair of the Hartford Civilian Review Board, I recall her quietly joining our contentious meetings, sitting in the back of the room to observe the proceedings. She was an avid reader of history. She attended gay pride and embraced the LGBTQ community and the community embraced her back. She listened hard and understood the day-to-day challenges and humiliations of poverty and racism. She felt the weight of the enormous expectations for change placed in her by the people of Hartford.

Mayor Perry inspired and mentored dozens of city residents to get involved in public service. State Treasurer Shawn Wooden and former Hartford Mayor Pedro Segarra are among city residents who she inspired to public service.

While Saxon Perry roared while in office, she left our world in near silence. Her passing in 2018 went unreported for nearly a year. Hundreds gathered in Hartford to honor and celebrate her life on February 5, 2020.

Let us remember her for her courage while never forgetting that there is a price to pay for standing up to entrenched and powerful forces. She won some and she lost some, but I know Madam Mayor would encourage us today to continue to “fight the good fight.” Without a doubt, she did.