Tucker, C. DeLores (1927—)

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Tucker, C. DeLores (1927—)

African-American politician and civil-rights activist. Born on October 4, 1927, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; daughter of Whitfield Nottage (a minister) and Captilda (Gardiner) Nottage (an entrepreneur); graduated from Philadelphia's Girls' High School; attended Temple University, Pennsylvania State University, and the University of Pennsylvania; married William J. Tucker (a real estate executive), in July 1951; no children.

Took part in the march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, and the White House Conference on Civil Rights (1965); served as secretary of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, becoming the highest-ranking black woman in any state government at the time (1971–77); was cofounder and chair, National Political Caucus of Black Women; was founding member, National Women's Caucus; served as vice-president, Pennsylvania chapter of the NAACP, and board member of NAACP's Special Contribution Fund; received honorary doctor of laws degrees from Villa Maria College and Morris College.

Born Cynthia DeLores Nottage on October 4, 1927, C. DeLores Tucker was one of eleven children of Reverend Whitfield Nottage and Captilda Gardiner Nottage , fundamentalist Christians who set down strict rules for their children and themselves. "We couldn't smoke, play cards, drink, dance, or listen to popular music," she later recalled. "No male company until I was 21…. We weren't taught to value material things. But we were taught that we were spiritual aristocracy, … [and] to place all our values in relationships—to heal the sick, to love everybody, to feed the poor, not to care about anything worldly." While her father refused to take payment for his ministry, preferring to rely on God, her mother ran a succession of small businesses to support the family.

The Nottages later moved to a farm in rural Montgomery County, outside Philadelphia. In her ninth-grade class, Tucker was the only African-American, earning her the hated nickname of "Black Beauty"—hardly a compliment, since it was originally the name of a fictional horse. Of her first day in the new school, she later recalled: "All the doors were open, all the children's heads were peepin' out, all the teachers' heads were above, and they were watching one little black girl come into that school."

Tucker graduated from Girls' High School in Philadelphia, an accomplishment for which her father rewarded her with an ocean voyage to the Bahamas. Told they would have to stay in special quarters because of their color, the rebellious Tucker balked, choosing to sleep instead in the damp air up on deck. This led to a lengthy illness that kept her from heading off to college in the fall as she had planned. Having spent a number of her summer vacations during high school working in hospitals, she had dreamed of one day becoming a doctor. Somehow this dream died when the illness delayed her college entry, although in later years she attended classes at Temple University, Pennsylvania State University, and the University of Pennsylvania. Instead, Tucker became involved in Philadelphia real estate, a pursuit that soon brought her into contact with her future husband, successful real estate executive William J. Tucker. They were married two years later, in 1959.

Tucker had been active in the civil-rights movement in and around her native Philadelphia as well as elsewhere in the North, but as the battle for equality heated up in the South in the late 1950s and early 1960s, she longed to join the "real struggle." Although her husband was less than enthusiastic about the prospect of her risking danger on the front lines down South, Tucker flew down to march for the first time with nearly 100 ministers. During one of the civil-rights marches in which she participated, she related, "the heavens opened up; it poured torrents of rain. People shouted, 'Drown, you rats, drown'; you could feel their hate, they were spitting. It was very tense." Tucker marched with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in the 1965 march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, and also served as a delegate to the White House Conference on Civil Rights.

Although she admits she grew up thinking politics was a "dirty word," she sees no better arena in which to work for meaningful change. "Politics affects everything we do, from birth certificate to death certificate, even from conception to resurrection." While still a teenager, Tucker entered the political fray as a worker in the campaign of Joseph Clark for the mayoralty of Philadelphia. She later became the first woman and first African-American member of the Philadelphia Zoning Board, and was a cofounder of the Black Women's Political Caucus and a founding member of the National Women's Caucus. Committed to feminism as well as to civil rights, Tucker noted in a 1974 interview that society tries to pigeonhole women and men from their earliest years: "For the blue blankets, the horizons are as big as all outdoors. But the pink blankets need not go much beyond their family doorstep. They need not go beyond winning the favor of the blue blankets and … keeping them feeling happy and proud." It was past time, she said, to stop debating "whether 53% of the people (women) or 23% (minority groups) should be involved" in running the country.

In 1971, Tucker attracted national attention when she was named Pennsylvania's commonwealth secretary under Governor Milton J. Shapp, a post roughly equivalent to secretary of state. Her appointment to the post made her the highest-ranking black woman in state government anywhere in the United States at the time. During the six years she served as commonwealth secretary, Tucker often came under fire for concentrating more on promoting her own political image than on working at her job. Although she had been publicly chastised by Governor Shapp for accepting thousands of dollars in unreported honoraria, Tucker was reappointed to a second term as commonwealth secretary in 1975. The following year, she again came under fire when a state senator accused her of using her office to solicit funds for the New York congressional campaign of Bella Abzug , a charge she vehemently denied. In 1977, Tucker was fired by Shapp after an investigation revealed she had used state employees to write speeches that she had delivered for fees exceeding $65,000.

Tucker remained active, however, serving on both state and national boards of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Having long been a colleague of Coretta Scott King , she helped to found and served as president of the Philadelphia chapter of the Martin Luther King, Jr., Association. Tucker campaigned for her friend Jesse Jackson during his 1984 presidential campaign, and in 1987 was drafted by 150 organizational leaders into running for the post of Pennsylvania's lieutenant governor, although she did not win. In the 1990s, she joined in the campaign against rap music lyrics glorifying violence, drug use, and casual sex. Particularly critical about so-called gangsta rap, Tucker called for a halt to the sales of such music to children, charging that gangsta rap recording companies were "pimping pornography to the children for the almighty dollar."