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Sharon Pratt Kelly (1944–), formerly Sharon Pratt Dixon, was the third mayor of the District of Columbia from 1991 to 1995 . The name Sharon Kelly may refer to: Sharon Pratt Kelly (born 1944), mayor of the District of Columbia Sharon Kelly (actress), American erotic actress Category: ... Image File history File links Broom_icon. ... List of mayors for Washington, D.C. The cities of Washington and Georgetown also had mayors from 1802-1871. ... is the 2nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1991 (MCMXCI) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the 1991 Gregorian calendar). ... is the 2nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full 1995 Gregorian calendar). ... (Not to be confused with Marion Berry, U.S. Representative from Arkansas. ... (Not to be confused with Marion Berry, U.S. Representative from Arkansas. ... is the 30th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1944 (MCMXLIV) was a leap year starting on Saturday. ... For other uses, see Washington, D.C. (disambiguation). ... Federal courts Supreme Court Circuit Courts of Appeal District Courts Elections Presidential elections Midterm elections Political Parties Democratic Republican Third parties State & Local government Governors Legislatures (List) State Courts Local Government Other countries Atlas  Politics Portal      Further information: Politics of the United States#Organization of American political parties The Democratic... The structure of Washington, D.C. city government has changed several times since the city was officially incorporated on May 3, 1802, leading to several different chief executive offices. ... For other uses, see Washington, D.C. (disambiguation). ...

Early life and career

Sharon Pratt was born January 30, 1944 in Washington. She received both undergraduate and law degrees from Howard University, following the career path of her father, a superior court judge, and was a professor in law at Antioch College before returning to Washington in 1977. is the 30th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1944 (MCMXLIV) was a leap year starting on Saturday. ... Howard University is a university located in Washington, D.C., USA. A historically black university, Howard was established in 1867 by congressional order and named for Oliver O. Howard. ... Antioch College is a private, independent liberal arts college in Yellow Springs, Ohio and founder of the six campus Antioch University system. ...

In 1983 she was made Vice President of Community Relations at Pepco, the local power utility, becoming the first woman and first African-American to serve in that role. The same year, she won the Presidential Award from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). The Potomac Electric Power Company (known as PEPCO) is a public utility supplying electric power to the city of Washington, DC and to surrounding communities in Maryland. ... The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP, generally pronounced as EN Double AY SEE PEE) is one of the oldest and most influential civil rights organizations in the United States. ...

Pratt directed the failed 1982 mayoral campaign of Patricia Roberts Harris and married Arrington Dixon, a Democrat on the D.C. city council. Her political energies, however, were drawn to national rather than local politics. She was a member of the Democratic National Committee from the District of Columbia from 1977-90, the first female to hold that position. She served as Treasurer of the DNC 1985-89. Categories: 1924 births | 1985 deaths | U.S. Secretaries of Health and Human Services | U.S. Secretaries of Health, Education, and Welfare | People stubs ... Arrington Dixon is a black, former city council member of Washington, DC and a delegate to the Democratic National Convention. ... The Democratic Party is one of two major political parties in the United States, the other being the Republican Party. ... A city council is the most common style of legislative government in a city or town. ... Former Vermont Governor Dr. Howard Dean is the current Chairman of the DNC. The Democratic National Committee (DNC) is the principal campaign and fund-raising organization affiliated with the United States Democratic Party. ...

Mayor of the District of Columbia

Pratt was sworn in as mayor of Washington on January 2, 1991, the first African-American woman to serve as mayor of a major American city. Early in her term, she married James R. Kelly III, a New York businessman, and changed her name to Sharon Pratt Kelly. is the 2nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1991 (MCMXCI) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the 1991 Gregorian calendar). ...

Upset with the decline of her hometown, Pratt announced at the 1988 Democratic National Convention that she would challenge incumbent mayor Marion Barry in the 1990 election. Pratt was the only candidate to have officially announced her plans to run for mayor when Barry was arrested on drug charges and dropped out of the race in early 1990. Shortly thereafter, the race was joined by three longtime D.C. Councilmembers. Pratt criticized her opponents on the council referring to them as the "three blind mice" who "saw nothing, said nothing and did nothing as the city rapidly decayed." She promised to "clean house with a shovel, not a broom." Following a series of televised debates during the last few weeks of the campaign, Pratt received the endorsement of The Washington Post. Within a matter of days, Pratt's grass-roots campaign staff grew from eight volunteers in their teens and twenties to over a one hundred volunteers. The night before the election, poll numbers showed Pratt in a horserace for second-place. On Election Day voters showed up at the polls carrying brooms and shovels. Pratt ultimately won the election by a healthy double-digit margin. The 1988 National Convention of the U.S. Democratic Party was held at The Omni in Atlanta, Georgia from July 18–21, 1988 to select a candidate for the 1988 United States presidential election. ... For the ecclesiastical office, see Incumbent (ecclesiastical). ... Marion Barry Marion Shepilov Barry, Jr. ... The Washington Post is the largest newspaper in Washington, D.C.. It is also one of the citys oldest papers, having been founded in 1877. ...

Once in office, Pratt's grassroots, reform posture was met with resistance. As she made good on her promise to slash the city employment payroll, her fragile political coalition began to weaken. Her efforts to achieve D.C. statehood in order to improve the District's financial and political standing upset the status quo and resulted in a barrage of negative press. In an ironic twist, much of the mainstream press suggested that in spite of her anti-patronage reform policies, Pratt was an aloof, out-of-touch corporate insider. Washington, D.C., is a predominantly African-American city, so it was particularly damning when the media began to portray Pratt as a fair-skinned elitist. In the second year of her term, Barry loyalists mounted a recall campaign, which, although unsuccessful, weakened her administration. A grassroots political movement is one driven by the constituents of a community. ...

In the 1994 Democratic primary, Kelly finished a distant third, losing to the ever-popular Marion Barry.

Post-Mayoral activities

In 1999, Sharon Pratt and James Kelly divorced. Pratt is now involved in Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness planning through her privately held company, Pratt Consulting.

She resides part-time in New York City and in Washington, D.C. She is the mother of two adult daughters, Drew Dixon Williams and Aimee Dixon, and the grandmother of Dixon Bathrus Williams, who was born in September 2004, and Carlyle Hastie Williams, born in September 2006. New York, New York and NYC redirect here. ...

References

• Local History: Biographies, Sharon Pratt Kelly (1944 - ) at exploredc.org