Detroit — Funeral services for Mildred R. Madison, a voting rights advocate who successfully led the campaign to have Detroit City Council members elected by district, were held Friday following her death last week.
Mrs. Madison, longtime president of the League of Women Voters’ Detroit chapter, died Aug. 16, 2023. She was 97.
“A big part of what has made City government more responsive and accountable to Detroiters has been the change to electing council members by district,” Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan said in a statement. “Mildred Madison was a driving force behind that change and we see the benefits of it every day. She spent her life fighting for the rights of voters and made a tremendous impact that will last for generations to come.”
She was born Mildred Thomas June 5, 1926 in Milwaukee. Mrs. Madison graduated from Howard University with a degree in marketing and accounting, sang in the Howard University Choir and became a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority.
Mrs. Madison served on the Ohio State Board of Education, the Cleveland City Council and the Cleveland Board of Education, becoming its first female president. She also was a delegate to two Democratic National Conventions, serving as a Whip and a member of the Rules and Platform Committees
After moving to Detroit, Mrs. Madison served as president of the Detroit League of Women Voters, where she championed lifting voting barriers for seniors, and lobbied to have City Council members elected by district — a policy that was adopted when the City Charter was revised in 2010.
“Mildred Madison was a force for good in the city and our state and a voice for every voter – always speaking truth to power and fighting to ensure everyone has a seat at the table,” Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson said in a statement. “May we all continue the fight that she dedicated her life to — ensuring every voice is heard and every vote is counted.”
Mrs. Madison made headlines in 2020, and was interviewed by Oprah Winfrey and then-Presidential candidate Joe Biden after she traveled from Zion, Illinois, where she’d been staying with her son, to vote in Detroit.
In a statement, Detroit Council President Mary Sheffield called Madison “a true American hero who used her voice to uplift the importance of education and the protection of the franchise of voting in our country.
“As a City, we were lucky to have Mrs. Madison do an abundance of her work right here in Detroit through her service with the League of Women Voters, which included the institution of council by districts. Mrs. Madison will be sorely missed, but her legacy will live on as an architect and defender of democracy in our Nation, and she will forever be a shining example for women in public service,” Sheffield said.
Survivors include son, Dr. Julian C Madison Jr. and his wife Riezl; daughter Sharon Madison and her husband, Michael Steinback; daughter Carol and her husband, George Graham of London, England; and several grandchildren.
A funeral service was held Friday at Congdon Funeral home in Zion, Illinois.
A memorial service was planned for 1 p.m. Tuesday at Plymouth United Church of Christ, 600 E. Warren Ave., in Detroit. The service is to be livestreamed at https://www.puccdetroit.org/
