Saundra Graham was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on
September 5, 1941, one of eleven children of Roberta Betts Postell and
Charles B. Postell. She attended public schools in Cambridge, the
University of Massachusetts and Harvard University Extension. In 1978
she received a Loeb Fellowship at Harvard.
Saundra Graham first gained international attention in 1970 when she
led a group of neighborhood residents and disrupted a Harvard University
commencement. For over a year before the incident Cambridge citizens of
the Riverside neighborhood had attempted to get a response from the
university for its continued real estate expansion. Because of her
action, Harvard finally acknowledged publically its covert role in what
was actual displacement of long-time residents from their homes. Harvard
responded by constructing an elderly housing complex and ten years
later, a family housing complex.
In 1968, Saundra Graham became a member of the Board of Directors of
the Cambridge Community Center. In 1970, she served as president of the
Riverside Planning Team and in 1971, as president of Riverside
Cambridgeport Community Development Corporation ("RCCC"). As one of the
co-founders of RCCC, she helped to shape it as one of the most
successful community development corporations in the nation. RCCC still
seeks to provide low and moderate income housing for Cambridge residents
and to upgrade existing housing stock.
Saundra Graham was elected to the Cambridge City Council in 1971 and
from 1972 to 1983 served as Chairwoman of its Housing and Land Use
Committee. She played a key role in obtaining federal housing dollars
for Cambridge. Roosevelt Towers, Jefferson Park and Washington Elms
public housing complexes received comprehensive rehabilitation and
modernization funds through her efforts. She was a committed leader in
the struggle for rent control in the early 1970s and remains a committed
leader.
In the late 1960s Saundra was divorced and continued to raise her five children as a single parent.
From 1976 to 1977 Saundra Graham served as Vice-Mayor of Cambridge.
In 1977 and 1978 she served as Chairwoman of the Multicultural Arts
Center Committee in Cambridge. Through her work, one historic East
Cambridge courthouse was saved from demolition and became the
Multicultural Arts Center.
In 1976 Saundra Graham was elected to the General Court of
Massachusetts. She was the first black woman representative from
Cambridge to the State House. She served as Chairwoman of the
Massachusetts Black Legislative Caucus and was a member of the
Massachusetts Caucus of Women Legislators. She played an active role in
housing at the state level where she is a member of the Joint
House-Senate Committee on Housing and Urban Development.
Saundra Graham was also a member of the Boston Black United Fund and
serves as Secretary to the National Black Caucus of Local Elected
Officials.
Another major concern of Saundra Graham's has always been the need
for quality childcare in the Commonwealth. She founded the Childcare
Coalition which is a state-wide collective of community child advocacy
groups and individuals.
Saundra Graham is a long-time advocate of nuclear disarmament and
activist in the nuclear freeze movement. She also co-chaired the
Massachusetts Coalition for the August 27, 1983 March on Washington.
Saundra Graham has received numerous awards some of which include the
1976 National Sojourner Truth Award from the National Association of
Negro Business and Professional Women's Clubs, Inc.; the 1980
Recognition Award by the Central Square Cambridge Businessmen's
Association and the 1982 "Woman of the Year" in government award by the
Boston Chapter of the National Organization for Women.
Saundra Graham has been dedicated to obtaining economic justice for
the poor, the elderly, the unemployed, minorities and women. She is a
strong advocate for affirmative action and enforcement, housing,
childcare, environmental protection, tax reform and a state budget that
provides for quality human services. [1983]