• Photo of Mazie Smith PurdueMazie Smith Purdue (1927-2017)

    Mazie Smith Purdue was the first known African-American woman elected to an elected office in the City of Erie. She served on the Erie School Board from 1992-1995, and was vice president of the body in 1994.

    Purdue's impact on the lives of students, their families and the community at large stretched far beyond her role on the board.

    According to "A Shared Heritage," a project to catalog the achievements and contributions of African Americans in Erie County, the Strong Vincent High School graduate helped establish local chapters of the National Council of Negro Women and Negro Business and Professional Women, as well as various after-school, summer lunch and self-esteem programs at Shiloh Baptist Church. Purdue also helped lead Women of Color and the Erie chapter of the Pennsylvania Conference on Black Basic Education, and served as a nurse, social worker and executive director of the Child Development Center at the Booker T. Washington Center, among other accomplishments."