A funeral and homegoing celebration was held Tuesday for former Congresswoman Carrie Meek in Miami Gardens. The service began at 11 a.m. at the Antioch Missionary Baptist Church.
Meek, the grandchild of a slave and a sharecropper’s daughter who became one of the first Black Floridians elected to Congress since Reconstruction, died last week at age 95.
Prior to the funeral service, her family took part in a motorcade procession in Miami, “the Carrie Meek Final Farewell Journey,” that passed by key landmarks associated with her life.
Meek began her congressional career at an age when many people retire. She was 66 when she easily won the 1992 Democratic congressional primary in her Miami-Dade County district, as one of the first African-Americans from Florida to win a seat in Congress.
In 2003, due in part to health issues, Meek left Congress to make room for her son Kendrick Meek.
“She’s home now,” her son told those gathered for a memorial service for his mother on Sunday.
“She loved to have fun and she loved a good time and she was brilliant,” he said. “We as a family are just extremely proud of the example that she left with us here still in this community of how to live and how to serve.”
The service was open to the public, and the wake and funeral service will be as well. Numerous elected officials attended to pay their respects.
At the Broward County Commission meeting on Tuesday, Commissioner Dale Holness also paid tribute to Meek. He designated December 7, 2021 as Carrie Meek Remembrance Day in Broward County.
In lieu of flowers, the family is requesting donations be made to the Carrie Meek Foundation, which she founded in November 2001 to provide the Miami-Dade community with much-needed resources, opportunities and jobs. Meek led the Foundation’s daily operations until 2015 when she stepped down due to declining health.
