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Maxine Baker (politician)

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Maxine Baker
Maxine Baker (center) in 1965.
Born
Maxine R. Eldridge

July 26, 1898
DiedJanuary 28, 1994(1994-01-28) (aged 95)
Alma materRadcliffe College
OccupationPolitician
Political partyDemocratic Party
SpouseJohn A. Baker

Maxine Baker (July 26, 1898 – January 28, 1994) was an American politician. She served as a Democratic member of the Florida House of Representatives from 1963 to 1972, representing Miami-Dade County, Florida. She is the namesake of the Baker Act, also known as the Florida Mental Health Act.[1]

Baker was on Florida Governor LeRoy Collins's Special Constitutional Advisory Committee (SPAC) in 1958 as a prominent Dade County representative of the League of Women Voters. Many in Florida[weasel words] wanted to finally revise the old Florida Constitution of 1885. She was a progressive force in advocating for county home rule, reapportionment, and particularly for desegregation of public schools. These changes eventually were incorporated into the 1968 revised Florida Constitution.[2]

References

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  1. ^ "A Guide to the Maxine E. Baker Papers". George A. Smathers Libraries. University of Florida. Retrieved February 16, 2018.
  2. ^ Adkins, Mary (2016). Making Modern Florida. University Press of Florida. ISBN 978-0-8130-5251-9.