Feisty Female Friday
The FFF this week is Tish James.
Letitia Ann "Tish" James is an American lawyer and former NY City Public Advocate who is the first African American and first woman to be elected NY Attorney General.
She was born in NY and attended Lehman College, CUNY, and Columbia University, where she was a later a Visiting Professor. Tish also served as a public defender with the Legal Aid Society, established the Urban Network, served on former Governor Cuomo’s Task Force on Diversity in the Judiciary, and was counsel in the NY State Assembly and in the administration of Attorney General Spitzer. She was the first Black woman to hold a citywide and statewide office in NY and is serving her second term as Attorney General.
During Tish’s tenure, she questioned cost overruns and irregularities in the subcontracting work of the payroll system, supported preserving historic housing buildings, and pressured banks to end their practice of providing financial services to gun manufacturers. She sued and won the case against the NRA, NY state COVID-19 allegations of neglect of residents in nursing homes, Governor Andrew Cuomo sexual harassment claims, and the NFL over harassment and discrimination employment practices complaints at their offices in NY and LA. She has also sued the Trump Organization for fraud and won that case, too. In retaliation, Tish and other state officials, have been sued over their handling of immigration issues and in the securing of their own personal mortgages and maintain their innocence.
Tish lives in Brooklyn, is a member of Emmanuel Baptist Church, has never married, and supports abortion rights. She also endorses the ‘Pennies for Charity” Campaign and oversees the Charities Bureau which has recovered millions from fraudulent charities. She is a strong advocate for the federal funding of non-profit organizations, has worked to secure support services for vulnerable populations, to protect tenants from eviction, fought against predatory lending practices, and has been a champion for access to quality healthcare for all.
Her career has always been marked by a commitment to public service, to ensuring that all people receive the support and access to all the essential services they need. We all need more feisty women like Tish advocating all of us everywhere.