Zandra Flemister

Zandra Iona Flemister (November 21, 1951 – February 21, 2023) was a Foreign Service Officer and United States Secret Service agent. Flemister received a bachelor's degree from Northeastern University and a master's degree from the National Defense University. She joined the Secret Service in 1974, becoming the first African American woman to serve as an agent. Four years later, she joined the United States Foreign Service, where she would serve for 33 years before retiring in 2011 because of early-onset Alzheimer's. Flemister, along with over 100 other African American secret service agents, brought a class action lawsuit against the Secret Service for racial discrimination.

Early life Zandra Flemister was born on November 21, 1951, at the 97th General Hospital in Frankfurt, Germany, located in the U.S. Zone of Occupation after World War II. Her parents, Joseph Benjamin Flemister, a Sergeant First Class in the U.S. Army, and Pearl Jenkins, a Foreign Service microfilm technician, had met and married in Alaska in 1948. Flemister spent her early childhood in Europe, moving from Germany to France, where she attended a French-speaking public school in Laon, a small city near the French-Belgian border. Her early exposure to different languages and cultures, instilled by her parents, would shape her worldview and career aspirations.

When Flemister was five years old, her parents separated, and she relocated with her mother to East Hartford, Connecticut, where they lived with her maternal grandparents, Samuel and Lela Jenkins. Her grandfather, a World War I veteran, was deeply involved in the Hartford African American community and was the founder of Camp Bennett, a summer camp aimed at serving urban African-American youth. Flemister spent her childhood engaged in various activities, including ballet and piano lessons, as her grandparents emphasized a well-rounded upbringing. Upon joining the Secret Service, Flemister protected the daughters of two U.S. presidents. According to John Collinge, her husband of 42 years and the father of her son Samuel, she took pride in “her skill at safeguarding” Gerald Ford’s teenage daughter Susan “during dates without being obtrusive.” She would attend school with Amy Carter and would sit discreetly in the back of her classroom while America's first daughter received her lessons. As the first African-American female secret service agent, she says she experienced discrimination as she trailblazed her way in the field, breaking glass ceilings for women and Black people after the Civil Rights Movement.

Flemister not only experienced personal acts of racism, but endured systemic racism and cultural bigotry in her time with the agency. White agents at the time threw the N-word around loosely in her presence. Reports recall a time Flemister was working with presidents of Senegal and Grenada during one of their visits to the United States and heard White agents calling the two Black leaders the N-word. There were times when she would be allowed to serve the nation at important events. She'd written that those opportunities were “solely for exhibition” and at those times she felt like the “show African American female agent.” Flemister was a specialist in consular affairs and earned a master's degree in military logistics.

Buenos Aires, Argentina (1979-1980) Flemister's assignment to Argentina was a difficult one; the embassy suffered from a frequent change in leadership, poor morale, and a high cost of living. Sometimes, Flemister “bartered cigarettes and scotch for maintenance services at her apartment.” Additionally, she faced racial discrimination. People sometimes mistook her for a maid while she was shopping. Initially hoping to work part-time as a rehired annuitant under the WAE (When Actually Employed) program, Zandra soon realized that her memory decline prevented her from doing so. She also attempted to volunteer at Bethesda Naval Hospital and the Montgomery County Library, but her memory issues made it difficult for her to pursue these efforts.

By 2014, Zandra's condition had deteriorated to the point that she could no longer navigate the Metro system or vote. After an episode in 2014 in which she became lost while driving, her car keys were taken away, further curtailing her independence. In 2015, Zandra's husband sought support from IONA Senior Services, which led to her participation in their Wellness and Arts Center. Zandra attended the center until she could no longer be left alone safely. In July 2015, Zandra entered long-term care at Arden Courts Kensington, a dementia care facility.

Zandra was formally diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's in 2014, a diagnosis that allowed her to access benefits from her long-term care policy. Despite the financial strain of her medical needs, the policy provided critical support, covering significant costs before it was exhausted. Zandra's condition continued to decline, and by 2022, she was in hospice care at Arden Courts. She died in 2023.