12 Facts About Augustus Hawkins

Augustus Freeman Hawkins was an American politician of the Democratic Party who served in the California State Assembly from 1935 to 1963 and the US House Of Representatives from 1963 to 1991.

Augustus Hawkins graduated from Jefferson High School in 1926, and received a bachelor's degree in economics from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1931.

Smith died in 1966, and Augustus Hawkins later married Elsie Taylor in 1977.

Augustus Hawkins would serve as a Democratic member of the Assembly from 1935 until 1963; by the time of his departure, Augustus Hawkins was the Assembly's most senior member, as Roberts was before him.

Augustus Hawkins was a delegate to the Democratic National Conventions of 1940,1944 and 1960, as well as an presidential elector from California in 1944.

In 1958, Augustus Hawkins sought to be Speaker of the California State Assembly, which was the second-most powerful position in the state, after the Governor of California.

In 1962, Hawkins won a newly created majority-black congressional district encompassing central Los Angeles With an endorsement from John F Kennedy, Hawkins easily won the primary and the general election.

From 1963 to 1991, Augustus Hawkins represented California's 21st District, and the 29th District, covering southern Los Angeles County, in Congress.

Augustus Hawkins was a strong supporter of civil rights, and he toured the South in 1964 to advocate for African-American voter registration.

Augustus Hawkins became chair of the House Education and Labor Committee in 1984.

Augustus Hawkins retired from Congress in 1991, having never lost an election in his 58-year career.

Augustus Hawkins died at Suburban Hospital in Bethesda, Maryland, on November 10,2007; aged 100, he was the oldest living person to have served in Congress at the time of his death, and the eighth member of Congress to have become a centenarian.