Geraldine W. Travis

Geraldine Washington Travis (born September 3, 1931) is an American politician and activist who served in the Montana House of Representatives from the 43rd district as a member of the Democratic Party. She was the first black woman to serve in the Montana House of Representatives.

Early life

Geraldine Washington Travis was born on September 3, 1931, in Albany, Georgia, to Joseph and Dorothy Washington. She was educated at Xavier University of Louisiana. In 1949, she married William Alexander Travis, with whom she would have five children, and would move throughout the country due to Travis being a member of the United States Air Force.

Career

In 1967, Travis and her husband moved to the Malmstrom Air Force Base near Great Falls, Montana. She helped found the NAACP branch in Great Falls in 1968, and served as its secretary treasurer. During the 1960s, she served as president of the Cascade County Women's Political Caucus. She also founded chapters of the National Council of Negro Women and Montana Women's Political Caucus in Great Falls.

During the 1972 presidential election, she supported Shirley Chisholm during the Democratic presidential primaries, and served as a Chisholm delegate to the Democratic National Convention.

During the 1980 presidential election, Travis served as co-chair of the Democratic Party's social services platform committee and as a presidential elector for presidential and vice-presidential nominees Jimmy Carter and Walter Mondale.

She moved to Arizona in 1989. She lost reelection to Republican nominee Warren O'Keefe in 1976.

Travis ran for a seat in the Montana House of Representatives in 1980, 1982, and 1984, but lost all three times.