Doris Bunte

She was born on July 2, 1933, in New York City and educated in the New York City public schools.[1]

She was a tenant activist at the Orchard Park housing project (now Orchard Gardens) in Roxbury.[2] She was a member of the National Rent Board, the Critical Minority Affairs Committee, the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials, the National Tenants Organization, and the Citizens Housing and Planning Association.[1]

In 1972, Bunte was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives (7th Suffolk District, Wards 8, 9 and 12), where she served for 12 years.[2] She was the first African-American woman elected to the Massachusetts state legislature.[3] In 1984, Mayor Raymond Flynn appointed her Administrator of the Boston Housing Authority, where she served until 1992. She was also the first BHA official who had lived in public housing.[2][4] She was the first African-American woman to hold that position in Boston, and the first former public housing tenant to lead a public housing agency in a major city.[3] During her career in Massachusetts politics she was known as a strong advocate for public housing.[2] Bunte was among the three founding members of the Massachusetts Legislative Black Caucus. [5]

Afterwards she worked at the Boston University School of Public Health and the Center for Sport in Society at Northeastern University before retiring in 2010.[2]

She died on February 15, 2021, from cancer in her home in Brookline, Massachusetts.[6]

In 2018, the Walnut Park Apartments were renamed the Doris Bunte Apartments.[7]

• Massachusetts House of Representatives' 9th Suffolk district
• 168th Massachusetts General Court (1973–1974)
• 169th Massachusetts General Court (1975–1976)
• 170th Massachusetts General Court (1977–1978)
• 171st Massachusetts General Court (1979–1980)
• 172nd Massachusetts General Court (1981–1982)
• 173rd Massachusetts General Court (1983–1984)

• Adrian Walker (February 16, 2021), "Remembering Doris Bunte", Boston Globe