A pioneer in national security who guarded not only the family members of former President Gerald Ford but also former President Jimmy Carter has died at age 71.
On Feb. 21, Zandra Iona Flemister, the first Black woman to be hired by the U.S. Secret Service, passed away, according to reports. During her life, in addition to serving her country, she participated with over 100 Black agents and former agents in a class-action lawsuit that sought to expose to the country the culture of racial discrimination that existed within the Secret Service.
Despite filing a complaint against the agency, she is still remembered for her outstanding work and the impact her service made on the nation.
U.S. Secret Service director Kimberly Cheatle released a statement regarding her death, saying she was “a trailblazer who dedicated her life to service and inspired a future generation of agents.”
Flemister was an Army brat, born Nov. 21, 1951, in Frankfurt, West Germany, while her father, a U.S. Army sergeant, was serving abroad. Her mother also worked for the U.S. government, taking a job as a microfilm technician.
During her early years, the family moved to France. Her parents separated when she was 5 years old, and her mother returned to the United States and set up a home for the small family in Connecticut.
After high school, she attended Northeastern University in Boston, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in political science in 1973.
Upon graduation, she started looking for work — hoping to land a job serving her country.
“It was government service for which I had prepared,” she said based on the influence of her parents, “and to government service, I was destined to go.”
She met a recruiter at a job fair and set her sights on applying for a Secret Service job — not knowing that no one like her had ever served with the agency.
Flemister was hired at the Secret Service in 1974 and spent four years in the federal law…
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