M. Athalie Range

M. Athalie Range (born Mary Athalie Wilkinson; November 7, 1915 in Key West, Florida – November 14, 2006 in Miami, Florida) was a Bahamian American civil rights activist and politician who was the first African-American to serve on the Miami, Florida City Commission, and the first African-American since Reconstruction and the first woman to head a Florida state agency, the Department of Community Affairs.

Early life and marriage Mary Athalie Wilkinson was born in Key West, Florida on November 7, 1915. Her grandparents had all been immigrants from the Bahamas. When Athalie was five or six years old, the Wilkinson family moved to Miami. Athalie Wilkinson graduated from all-black Booker T. Washington High School in Overtown, Miami. She married Oscar Lee Range in 1937 and had 4 children, Myrna, Patrick, Oscar, and Gary. During this period the Ranges lived in the Liberty Square Housing Project. During World War II Athalie Range found work cleaning trash from railroad cars.

Later accomplishments In 1971 newly elected Florida Governor Reubin Askew appointed Athalie Range as Secretary of the Department of Community Affairs. She became the first African-American since Reconstruction and the first woman ever to head a state agency in Florida. As Secretary, she managed a department with 200 employees and a US$5.2 million annual budget. She remained in the position until 1973.

In 1974, Athalie Range became the first honorary member of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority in the state of Florida. Her membership into the historic African-American sorority was sponsored by the Gamma Zeta Omega chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha.

Athalie Range was one of the first African-Americans in Florida to back Jimmy Carter when he ran for President. Range introduced Carter to African-American groups in Florida before he had announced his candidacy. President Carter later appointed Range to a two-year term on the National Railroad Passenger Corporation (AMTRAK) governing board. In a little over thirty years she had gone from cleaning railroad cars to helping run AMTRAK. once the only public beach in Dade County open to African-Americans.

Athalie Range Park, and the Athalie Range Olympic Swimming Complex are named after her. There is also a strip of Miami's Biscayne Boulevard named in her honor. M. Athalie Range died November 14, 2006, in Miami, at the age of 91.