Doris Bunte

Doris Bunte (July 2, 1933 – February 15, 2021) was an American politician who was a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1973 to 1984 and administrator of the Boston Housing Authority from 1984 to 1992. She was the first African-American woman to hold either position.

Biography Bunte was born on July 2, 1933, in New York City and educated in the New York City public schools.

She was a tenant activist at the Orchard Park housing project (now Orchard Gardens) in Roxbury. She was a member of the National Rent Board, the Critical Minority Affairs Committee, the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials, the National Tenants Organization, and the Citizens Housing and Planning Association. In 1984, Mayor Raymond Flynn appointed her Administrator of the Boston Housing Authority, where she served until 1992. She was also the first BHA official who had lived in public housing. She was the first African-American woman to hold that position in Boston, and the first former public housing tenant to lead a public housing agency in a major city.

Honors In 2018, the Walnut Park Apartments were renamed the Doris Bunte Apartments.