Lois DeBerry

Lois Marie DeBerry (May 5, 1945 – July 28, 2013) was an American politician who was a member of Tennessee House of Representatives and former Speaker Pro Tempore of the Tennessee House. She was elected to represent the 91st district, part of Shelby County, as a Democrat. She was first elected to the Tennessee General Assembly in 1972 and was at the time of her death the longest serving member of the House.

DeBerry was the second African American woman to serve in the Tennessee General Assembly and the first woman to be speaker pro tempore of the House.

During the 1960s, Lois DeBerry became engaged in the civil rights movement. In spite of objections from her parents, she participated in the August 28, 1963, March on Washington, various student sit-ins, and a Selma to Montgomery march in 1965. In addition to serving on the House committees listed in the following paragraph, she was also Chair of the Special Committee to Study Integration of Ex-Offenders into Mainstream of Society, a member of the Governor's Juvenile Justice Reform Commission, and a member of the Governor's Minority Business Development Advisory Committee. DeBerry died after a nearly five-year battle with pancreatic cancer on July 28, 2013, at a hospital in Memphis. She was a member of Delta Sigma Theta sorority.

Political views Lois DeBerry co-sponsored a bill in May 2005 that would have required parents to volunteer in schools for at least 12 hours per year. She voted in April 2004 for women to be required to wait 24 hours and receive counseling before having an abortion. She voted against a bill in March 2004 that would have banned civil unions and domestic partnerships in Tennessee. In May 1999, she proposed a bill that restricted credit card companies from soliciting on college and university campuses. She was a close friend of former Vice President Al Gore for at least 25 years, and she put in his nomination for president at the Democratic National Convention.

Controversies DeBerry accepted $200 from an undercover FBI agent posing as a businessman during Operation Tennessee Waltz, while celebrating a birthday with fellow Representative Kathryn I. Bowers in 2004. DeBerry defended the decision, saying she did nothing wrong, and that she thought the money was a birthday present. As a result of the incident, she stepped down from the Joint Legislative Committee on Ethics.